


Attenuation

by Never_Eat_Sour_Wheat



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half-Life
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arguing, Backstory, Bathing/Washing, Black Mesa Sweet Voice, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Development, Chases, Crossover, Crying, Developing Relationship, During Canon, Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Half-Life VR But the AI is Self-Aware, Harm to Children, I took out the soda shipping they're just bros now, I vibe with that more these days, Kidnapping, Kinda, Making Up, Memory Alteration, Minor Character Death, Multi, Mutual Pining, Nonbinary Character, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Possession, Reunions, Secrets, Serious Injuries, Set During Half Life 2, Supernatural Elements, They/Them Pronouns for Bubby (Half-Life), Time Shenanigans, Trans Male Character, it's not explicit but still, the ocs are small roles, you're gonna have to know a fair bit about half life or be willing to learn on the fly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-24 01:49:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 21,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30064824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Never_Eat_Sour_Wheat/pseuds/Never_Eat_Sour_Wheat
Summary: Gordon Freeman wakes up to his friend's dad's face directly in front of his own, telling him about some sort of... destiny? It's strange, especially because he doesn't say anything to indicate he knows who Gordon is. And then these people from Black Mesa pretend they're best friends even though Gordon barely remembers them? But, hey, the Science Team is back! Kind of... they're missing a member... (although Darnold is here, and that's nice). Oh, and Benrey's no where to be seen, that's good!But also an alien organization hellbent on pulling Earth into its clutches is evenmorehellbent on killing Gordon. That's probably his biggest concern at the moment.Oh, yeah, and it's been twenty years since the Chuck E. Cheese party, which... Gordon doesn't really remember ending?Anyways, yeah, he's in some shit.
Relationships: Alyx Vance & Tommy Coolatta, Barney Calhoun/Gordon Freeman, Bubby/Dr. Coomer (Half-Life), Forzen & Joshua Freeman, Gordon Freeman & Alyx Vance, Gordon Freeman & Joshua Freeman, Tommy Coolatta & Darnold
Comments: 15
Kudos: 31





	1. The Longest (Wavelength) Day

**Author's Note:**

> WOAH, okay, I really didn't plan for this fic to spiral out of control like it did, but... I'm having a good time with it and I thought I'd share! I've been getting into normal Half-Life and I thought making my own little crossover between these two things would be fun, so I did! This is pretty heavily going into normal Half-Life's lore/plot though, so... if you're not into it, get ready to learn! (But also maybe do get into it, it's really good). I'm learning on the job a bit, since I'm in the middle of the playthrough I'm watching, but this isn't exactly the plot of Half-Life 2, so I think it'll be okay! I hope you enjoy this!

“‘Nade!” Gordon practically tackled Barney in an attempt to get them both behind cover before the grenade that had been thrown their way went off. The two of them stayed behind the large piece of rubble Gordon had shoved them behind, breathing heavily as they waited to see how big and how close the explosion would be.

But… it never came.

A couple more “thunk” noises came from the other side of the rubble, and Gordon peeked over it ever so slightly. Barney was already grabbing at his shoulder to pull him down to safety again, but Gordon didn’t appear to be in immediate danger. Because, instead of bullets flying, weapons were being hurled over the Combine soldiers’ cover. Barney peeked over their cover as well, and he seemed just as confused as Gordon was.

“What in sam hell…” he mumbled.

The last thing that came flying over the opposite cover were three large chunks of what looked like a radio mechanism. They’d clearly been ripped out of wherever they were supposed to be, and they looked like they were sparking slightly.

One of the soldiers came out from behind the cover, and both Barney and Gordon leveled their guns at him. “Don’t shoot,” he said. “We’ve given up our weapons and destroyed our communicators. We just want to talk.”

“On behalf of who?” Barney asked.

“Ourselves,” the Combine soldier replied.

“What do you want?” Gordon asked.

“A word with the One Free Man,” the soldier said. “You can both decide our fates from there.”

Barney and Gordon shared a quick glance before Gordon carefully lowered his weapon. Barney kept his trained on the soldier as Gordon approached him. After a moment, Gordon stood in front of him, only the pile of Combine weapons between them. He stared down at the soldier, who seemed to be waiting for his response. “I’m listening,” he finally said.

The soldier moved his hands, and Gordon was ready to leap out of the way for Barney to shoot, but he only removed his helmet.

“Hello, Gordon!” A familiar, chipper voice said.

“I… Dr. Coomer?” Gordon asked.

“I certainly hope so!” Dr. Coomer replied. “If I turn out to be a clone…”

And it was Dr. Coomer, standing in front of Gordon, looking as bright and happy as ever. His cybernetics were much more obvious, even if all Gordon could see was his face. Because half of his face was no longer hidden cybernetics. He looked even older, more wrinkled than before, but it was laugh lines and crow's feet, and Gordon wasn’t sure how he’d been able to do that.

“You’re with the Combine?” Gordon asked, taking a weary step backwards.

“I’m afraid so,” Dr. Coomer said, shaking his head. “Believe me, Gordon, I wish more than anyone that I could have joined you sooner. But, unfortunately, the Combine got a hold of us after Black Mesa and there wasn’t much we could do.”

“Wait… ‘we’?” Gordon asked.

“But of course, Gordon!” Dr. Coomer said. “You didn’t really think something like an alien invasion would break apart the Science Team, did you?”

“Is that our cue?” Bubby asked as they stood up from behind their cover. They yelped and hit the deck when a bullet flew past them.

“Barney!” Gordon shouted, because he’d completely forgotten that Barney couldn’t hear the conversation and generally had no idea what was going on. “Don’t shoot, it’s okay!”

“Okay? Gordon, these aren’t just normal Combine soldiers, they’re special ops!” Barney said, retraining his gun on Dr. Coomer.

“Well, we are very talented,” Dr. Coomer said with a shrug.

“You are pretty good at killing stuff, yeah…” Gordon mumbled. “I’m beginning to see why you guys couldn’t just stroll up to a resistance safe house and ask to join.”

“Unfortunately, Gordon, we have done some… not very nice things,” Dr. Coomer said. “We’ve led a few of our own rebellions from inside the walls, but we’ve had to do plenty of other things that seem to negate that.”

“Wait, rebellions from inside?” Barney asked, carefully lowering his gun. “You weren’t the ones who blew up the empty station in sector five, were you?”

“That would be us!” Dr. Coomer said proudly. “Bubby wanted to set it on fire, but we had to be quick.”

“Is _that_ our cue?” Bubby asked, standing up again.

“Yeah, you’re good,” Gordon said. “Wow, I… holy shit, I didn’t think I’d see you guys again.”

“Likewise, Gordon!” Darnold said, also standing from behind their cover.

“Oh! Uh… I did not expect you to be the third person!” Gordon said. “Not that it’s bad to see you! It’s great, actually! Just, uh…”

“You were expecting Tommy, right?” Darnold asked, goodnaturedly. “Don’t worry, he’s doing alright too. Just working from a different angle.”

“Gotcha…” Gordon said. “Um, well… guys, this is Barney,” Gordon gestured to said man, who gave a small wave. “You… might remember him from Black Mesa? He was a security guard, and-“

“Gordon, I think it would be hard to forget him,” Dr. Coomer said, his tone grim.

“No! No, no, _Barney_ , not Benrey,” Gordon clarified. “It threw me for a loop at first too, but, no, totally different guy.”

“You’re still gonna have to tell me about him someday, doc,” Barney said. “For now, though… what about these three?”

“We’d like to join you, of course!” Dr. Coomer said. “There’s nothing like a little resistance to get the blood pumping!”

“Uh… Gordon? A word?” Barney asked, jerking his head towards a more private area.

“Yeah, for sure,” Gordon said. “Guys, don’t blow anything important up for five minute, okay?”

“No promises!” Bubby shouted as Barney took Gordon’s elbow to lead him away from the group.

“We can’t let them join, you know that, right?” Barney asked.

“I…” Gordon bit his lip.

“Gordon, you can’t be serious.” Barney sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “They’re Combine _special ops_ , Gordon. They’ve seen and done some fucked up shit, the majority of it having to do with gunning down guys on _our_ side. And they didn’t pull punches either, otherwise they _never_ would’ve gotten that rank.”

“I… no, yeah, I know, but…” Gordon glanced at the three scientists, and he couldn’t help smiling fondly when he realized that Bubby was trying to balance a flamethrower on their nose. “Barney, those are the guys that helped me out of Black Mesa. Or, uh, most of them. I’ve told you about them, right? The Science Team?” Barney nodded. “They’re genuinely good people, Barn. They’re kinda fucked up, but good people. Dr. Coomer said that joining the Combine was the only way for them to survive, and I believe him. I mean… they certainly look worse for wear…”

It was true, too. Dr. Coomer wasn’t the only one with visible cybernetics now, seeing as Bubby had a replacement eye, and Darnold seemed to be sporting a prosthetic arm (and wow, wasn’t that ironic). Bubby looked exhausted in a way that Gordon didn’t think he’d even see from them, and Darnold had gone completely gray despite only being in his fifties.

“Gordon, they look worse for wear because they’ve become killers!” Barney hissed.

“Become?” Gordon said with a laugh. “Did I omit stuff when I told you about them?”

“Okay, no, you didn’t, but you catch my drift,” Barney insisted. “We can’t take them with us. In fact, we should be killing them. I’m not about to make you do that, you really do seem to care about them, but…” Barney sighed. “I’m sorry, Gordon, we can’t take them back with us.”

Gordon bit his lip again and turned to look at the Science Team. Dr. Coomer seemed to be spouting nonsense, probably something from Wikipedia, while Bubby continued in their efforts with the flamethrower and Darnold watched the two of them messing around. He sighed heavily, but nodded. “Yeah… I know,” he said. “I’ll… I’ll tell them. But, uh… be ready to take action if they don’t take the news well.” Barney nodded, and followed Gordon back over to the small group of scientists.

“Ah! Gordon!” Dr. Coomer perked up when he noticed the two of them coming back over. “Are you ready to get going?”

“Um… about that…” Gordon said. He sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, guys, we can’t bring you back with us.”

“Why… why not?” Dr. Coomer asked, and he sounded completely crushed.

“It’s just… you guys know I trust you, right?” The three of them glanced at each other, but didn’t say anything. “Well… I mean, there’s your answer, y’know? Cuz I do trust you, I promise, but that’s only because I know you guys work it all out eventually, one way or another. I think that… that we can all be sympathetic to the shit you’ve probably been through, but… we can’t really bring you back.”

“I understand, Gordon,” Dr. Coomer said, nodding. “Well… gentlemen, let’s not delay the inevitable more than necessary!” He turned back to Bubby and Darnold, and began to march back the way they came.

“Wait, what about your weapons?” Gordon called after them as they walked off.

“We’re walking into a death trap, dumbass!” Bubby called over their shoulder. “You don’t just rip your communicators out and then reappear like nothing happened!”

“Oh…” Gordon said quietly.

“It was really nice to see you again, Gordon,” Darnold said, giving him a genuine smile. “I’m glad you got your arm back to normal.” And then he was rushing after the other two over a hill.

“I… shit,” Barney said. “I didn’t realize that, um…”

“It’s okay,” Gordon said. “It’s… those guys will either survive or just pop up somewhere else.” He shook his head and chuckled. “We should keep moving.”

“Gordon, you sure you don’t-”

“C’mon,” Gordon cut Barney off as he picked up Bubby’s flamethrower. “They left us some pretty good loot, at least.”

“Uh… yeah,” Barney said.

* * *

“You called ahead, right?” Barney asked. Gordon nodded as he helped the other man stumble towards Kleiner’s lab. Barney had taken a pretty nasty bullet to the side, and the battlefield surgery Gordon had done was, admittedly, one of the better ones he’d done, but Barney needed something with some more professional medical knowledge, and Kleiner was the closest option. “Just, uh…” He trailed off to cough, and Gordon winced. “Just make sure that Kleiner knows what type of… of bullet it was.”

“‘Course,” Gordon replied. He let Barney lean against a wall so he could fiddle with the fake vending machine until it opened. He carefully hoisted Barney through the doorway. “Kleiner! We need medical attention!”

“I’ll be there in just a second!” Kleiner yelled from further in the lab, and Gordon would have screamed at him if Alyx weren’t already rushing to him and Barney.

“I’ve got him,” she said quietly. Gordon relented and handed Barney off to her so she could get him somewhere slightly more comfortable while they waited for Kleiner. “What happened? You guys have been gone for a couple weeks.”

“Ran into some issues at a different base,” Gordon explained, leaning heavily against a wall. “We had to stay and help them out, and any attempts at communication didn’t go through. We fixed that too, but it was on our way out, so we couldn’t get word to you until our mobile communicators were in range again.” Alyx nodded and started removing Barney’s shirt.

“Geez, take me to dinner first,” he said, and she rolled her eyes at him.

“Shut up, old man,” she said fondly. “Is the bullet still in there?” She asked Gordon.

“No, I got it out,” he replied. “I don’t know if I did a good job of it, but it was better than just leaving it in.”

“Indeed, Gordon,” Kleiner said as he rushed out of the back room of the lab. “Apologies, I was making sure Lamarr wouldn’t get in the way.”

“Stupid bug,” Barney mumbled. He hissed and flinched when Alyx started cleaning the area around his wound. “Warn a guy next time!”

“Sorry,” Alyx mumbled as she worked at getting it clean. “You can take care of this, right, Kleiner?”

“Hmm…” Kleiner leaned down to get a better look. “Yes, this should be relatively easy. I could do with a second pair of hands, though.”

Alyx stepped back, and Gordon was ready to step in and take her place, but she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted to the platform up above the main lab. “Harold!”

Gordon’s eyes widened as there was a lot of shuffling from the upper level, before Dr. Coomer dropped down to the main level. “Hello, Gordon!” He said, but he only spared Gordon a quick nod before he was standing beside Kleiner. “Hello, Barney!”

“You…?” Barney asked. “But… I thought that…”

“We’ll explain later,” Kleiner said, “for now, I need you to relax Barney.”

“U-Uh… are there gonna be stitches?” Barney asked, looking far from relaxed.

“...most likely,” Kleiner said.

Barney took a few deep breaths, and he held his hand out. Alyx and Gordon both went to take it at the same, but they both stayed that way instead of one of them backing down. “This fucking sucks,” Barney mumbled.

“It will be very ‘weaksauce’, as the kids say,” Dr. Coomer said, nodding sagely.

That got Barney to laugh at least. “What the fuck?” He asked.

“Don’t question it,” Gordon said, “just focus on staying calm, okay?” He looked up at Kleiner and Coomer, wincing at Kleiner threading a needle. “Can we at least knock him out?” He asked.

“Well, I do have a penchant for that sort of thing,” Dr. Coomer said, “although, he will have quite a headache when he wakes up.”

Gordon and Barney locked eyes for a second, before Barney sighed. “Yeah, alright,” he said, “just don’t-” He was cut off by Dr. Coomer slamming the heel of his palm into Barney’s forehead, effectively knocking him unconscious. Alyx jumped in surprise, but Dr. Coomer put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, dear, he’ll be just fine,” he said, and Alyx nodded. “Why don’t you and Gordon get some fresh air? I can’t imagine this will be pleasant for either of you.”

“Yeah… yeah, okay,” Alyx said. She stood and took Gordon’s hand to drag him away from Barney’s side.

“Dr. Coomer, he doesn’t come back like-”

“I’m well aware of the risks, Gordon,” Dr. Coomer said. “He’s in good hands, I promise.” Gordon hesitated, but he nodded and let Alyx drag him back outside. The two of them climbed up onto a secluded part of the rooftop where no one would see them from below.

“So… Dr. Coomer’s here,” Gordon said.

“Yup,” Alyx replied. “I stumbled across him and a couple other guys and they were hurting pretty bad. I was ready to finish them off, since they were in Combine uniforms, but…” She bit her lip. “Something… stopped me.”

“What?” Gordon asked.

“It was… um…” She sighed heavily. “Just a gut feeling, okay? It turned out to be a good one, so it doesn’t really matter.”

“That’s a lot of stumbling over words just to tell me it’s a gut feeling,” Gordon said. He reached out to gently slap her arm. “I won’t make you tell, heaven knows that there’s a lot I haven’t told you, but I won’t freak out if you do.” He chuckled. “I figure I’ve seen enough shit that I won’t be freaked out by anything anymore.”

Alyx hummed. “I just…” She sighed. “Sorry. I don’t think I can tell you. Not yet, at least.”

“That’s fine,” Gordon replied. “Just know that I’m here to listen.” Alyx smiled and nodded, and she leaned her head against his shoulder, not bothered by the HEV suit. “Where are the other two? Bubby and Darnold?”

“Darnold is with my dad,” Alyx explained, “and Bubby’s out on some recon mission right now. Harold wanted to go with them, but they insisted he stay. That worked out well, at least.” She chuckled.

“Do you know why Darnold’s there?” Gordon asked.

“We were trying to fix the last few bugs in the teleporter, and he offered to be our test subject,” Alyx said. “Apparently, he’s been his own test subject for years, so he doesn’t really get freaked out by that stuff anymore. Although he worked with… ‘potions’?” She said the last word like it didn’t make sense, and it made Gordon laugh, because he’d had the same reaction at first.

“Yeah, that’s Darnold,” Gordon said. He carefully wrapped an arm around Alyx’s shoulders, and she scooted closer to him. “Do you… you said that they were hurting. Do you know what happened?”

Alyx shivered, but she nodded. “Um… yeah,” she said. “They… they did something to anger the Combine and… got the bad end of their own baton. But, from the way that Harold has been talking about everything, they never really wanted to work for the Combine.”

“No, they… they didn’t,” Gordon said. Alyx leaned back so she could look at Gordon. He sighed and pulled his arm back so he could readjust himself so he was facing her. “Barney and I ran into them. I… I know them from Black Mesa. From the incident, actually, they helped me get out.” Alyx nodded along. “They didn’t attack us, and I went to talk with them. Mostly Coomer, but all three of them. Barney… he convinced me to leave them behind. They were special ops, after all, and…” He sniffed quietly, and Alyx reached out to take his hand. “They said they were going to a death trap, b-but they’ve always bounced back b-before, so I thought…” He choked on a sob, and Alyx scooted closer so she could hug him. “Sorry.” He laughed awkwardly as he squeezed her gently. “It’s just… y’know, I didn’t think I’d see them again, and then I thought I had to send them away, and now they’re here. And I’m glad to see them, don’t get me wrong, but… I feel like an asshole.”

“Well… you are,” Alyx said, “but not cuz of that. You’re an asshole cuz you still insist that Kane and Lynch is a good game.”

“It is!” Gordon said, and Alyx laughed.

“My point is, Gordon, you and Barney did what you thought was best for the resistance in that moment, and that’s the important part. And I know for a fact that none of them blame you. Harold kept asking if we’d heard from you, but it was because he wanted to let you know that he was okay and wanted to know that you were too.” She sat up again, but still held his hand. “Half the reason Darnold went to see my dad was because he wanted to look for you there too. And Bubby…” She chuckled. “They’re a weird one to read, but they’ve been setting stuff on fire whenever we mention you.”

“That’s… usually a bad thing,” Gordon pointed out.

“Nah,” Alyx said, “it’s cuz they’re worried about you. Harold told me that they only start fires unconsciously when they’re nervous.”

“Oh.” Gordon took a moment to think about that. “I… yeah, okay.” He nodded. “I still wish I had let them come with us.”

“That wouldn’t have been a good idea.” Both Gordon and Alyx jumped, and Gordon had to grab onto her arm so she didn’t fall off the roof. They turned to see Bubby standing lower down on the roof, and they quickly climbed up so they’d be hidden from street view as well. “If we’d gone with you, the Combine would’ve gone looking for us.”

“Wouldn’t they just assume you were dead?” Gordon asked.

“No,” Bubby said, “they want to keep a precise record of who’s where, especially with people that work for them. I think that’s got something to do with your boyfriend.” They winked at Gordon, who felt his face get warm.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” He yelped. Alyx shushed him so no one would hear them all on the roof, but she was laughing through it. He crossed his arms and looked away, pouting slightly. “We’re not dating,” he said.

“You say that now…” Bubby teased. “But, uh… I’m glad you’re here. As much of a dumbass as you are.”

Gordon smiled ever so slightly. “Back at you,” he said.

“So! Why are we sitting out here?” Bubby asked.

“Barney’s hurt and Kleiner and Harold are giving him some impromptu surgery,” Alyx explained.

“Wait, why do you get to call Dr. Coomer ‘Harold’?” Gordon asked.

“I’m not really sure,” Alyx replied. “He just told me I should call him by his first name.”

“He feels weird when kids call him ‘doctor’,” Bubby said. “And you might be a little spitfire, but you’re still a kid, Alyx.” Alyx huffed, and it was her turn to cross her arms and pout.

“Ah! Hello, friends!” Dr. Coomer said, leaning out of the window below them. “It’s alright to come back down now! The surgery was a smashing success!”

“Great!” Alyx said. She slid down the side of the roof and grabbed onto the top of the window frame to swing herself inside, just barely missing Dr. Coomer as she did.

“She’s a real athlete, huh?” Bubby asked, and Gordon couldn’t help but pick up the strange parental fondness in their voice.

“Yeah,” Gordon replied, “she’s pretty damn impressive for a twenty-four year old. I guess that’s what comes from growing up in… all this…” He took a moment to look out at City 17. “God… I wish I’d been here…”

“Don’t beat yourself up too much,” Bubby said, resting a hand on Gordon’s shoulder. “After all, a little bitch like you wouldn’t have changed the outcome of history.”

Gordon laughed. “You do know I’m the ‘One Free Man’, right?” He asked.

“Obviously your name was just messed up in translation!” Bubby said, which made Gordon laugh even more. “C’mon, we gotta go check on your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Gordon squawked as he followed Bubby down into Kleiner’s lab.

“You keep telling yourself that!” Bubby called back.

* * *

“We’ll have to evacuate the rebels from the area…” Dr. Coomer mumbled as he looked over the maps that Bubby had brought back from their recon mission. “It won’t be easy, gentlemen. And Alyx.” Alyx shook her head goodnaturedly as she leaned over the table to look at the map as well.

“How many do we have stationed there?” Kleiner asked.

“I’m not sure… Barney would have a pretty good estimate,” Gordon said. He glanced over as Barney, still unconscious from the surgery, laying on the closest thing they had to a bed in the lab. Bubby was sitting beside him, ready to restrain him if he started thrashing in his sleep. “How long do you think til he wakes up?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, Gordon,” Dr. Coomer said. “A weaker man can be out for up to ten hours from a blow from yours truly! However, Barney is certainly no weak man…” He trailed off, just staring at Barney. Kleiner opened his mouth to continue planning the evacuation before the massive Combine wave that swept through a section of the city, but Dr. Coomer spoke first. “They do look strikingly similar, Gordon.”

Gordon held his breath for a moment, and he knew that everyone’s eyes were on him. “Uh… y-yeah,” he said, “they do.”

“You don’t think…” Dr. Coomer trailed off.

“Whatever you’re thinking, I probably haven’t,” Gordon replied. “I try not to think about him as much as possible.”

“An understandable reaction, Gordon,” Dr. Coomer said, nodding. “I still can’t help but wonder if they’re connected somehow.”

“I hope not,” Gordon said. “I’d _love_ to go for the rest of my life without ever seeing him again.”

“Well, we did kill him,” Dr. Coomer said.

“But that never stopped him before.” Gordon sighed. “Can we have this conversation later? Maybe somewhere more private?”

Dr. Coomer jumped, seemingly realizing where he was. “Oh! Yes, of course! Apologies!” He refocused on the map sitting in front of him, but Gordon could tell he wasn’t actually focused, just staring at it. Kleiner gave Gordon a confused look, but he just shook his head.

“Yes, well, we’ll have to start spreading the word as fast as possible,” Kleiner said. “Do you all think you could do that?”

“Getting Gordon out there just to spread information would probably be a bad idea,” Alyx said. “The same for Harold and Bubby. And… Barney at this point too…” She sighed heavily. “There’s either going to have to be a _lot_ of stealth work, or we’re going to have to hope word of mouth works beyond us telling just a few people.”

“We’re not exactly known for stealth work,” Dr. Coomer said sadly. “Although, I can’t speak for Gordon when he’s flying solo.”

“I’m… not too bad at it,” Gordon said, “but it’d still probably be a bad idea. That place is probably crawling with Combine by now, and I’m willing to bet that they’re all going to be in disguise.” He sighed. “Jeez, I’m sorry, guys. If Barney and I hadn’t gotten tripped up, then-”

“Shut that thought process up, doc,” Barney said, and all eyes turned to him as he slowly sat up. “Ah… shit… my head…”

“Harold does that to you,” Bubby said. “Lie back down, you’re gonna rip your stitches.”

“Uh… we’re trusting this guy?” Barney asked, although he did as Bubby said.

“Bubby is a valuable member of this team, Boper!” Dr. Coomer said, and Gordon laughed. He stood to walk over to Barney, and the others followed.

“We can trust these guys, Barn, I promise,” he said. “They’ve been here for a while while you and I were gone, and Alyx is already calling Dr. Coomer by his first name.”

“They’re cool, Barney,” Alyx said, “don’t worry.”

“If… if you all say so, sure,” Barney said. “But the lump on my head isn’t as willing to forgive.” He chuckled weakly.

“My apologies, Barney,” Dr. Coomer said, “but I believe a bit of a headache is a better alternative to being awake for having stitches put in your side!”

“I… have to agree with you there, doc,” Barney said. “So… we should probably do some better introductions, huh?”

“In just a moment,” Kleiner said, interrupting the little circle to bring over the map that Bubby had brought back. “Barney, could you give us an estimate of how many resistance members are in the highlighted area?”

“Um… oh, jeez, doc, that’s one of our most highly populated places that isn’t an official base,” Barney said. “I’d say… about a thousand?”

“Oh dear…” Kleiner mumbled.

“Why? What’s going on?” Barney tried to sit up again, but Bubby kept him pinned to the table he was lying on.

“We’ll have to work fast, Doctor,” Dr. Coomer said to Kleiner, “we don’t know when they’ll notice this map is missing, and I’m sure that they’ll move fast after that.”

“Oh, fuck, I didn’t even think about that…” Gordon said. “Okay, I’m going.”

“Going where? What’s going on?” Barney asked, trying to sit up again.

“You’re gonna rip your stitches, asshole!” Bubby barked at him. “Hold still!”

“Not til you tell me what’s going on!” Barney demanded.

“That highlighted area is going to be cleared out by Combine soldiers. Someone tipped them off to the rebels in the area,” Alyx explained. “We’ve gotta go and spread the word to get out as fast as possible.”

“Shit…” Barney mumbled. “Gordon, you’re public enemy number one. We’ve gotten _extremely_ lucky so far, but they’re gonna find you sooner or later, and we really don’t need that to be when they’ve got their best guys on the case.”

“Their… best guys aren’t on the case anymore…” Bubby said, slowly and thoughtfully. “Harold, did you-”

“My dear, you know that I like to be prepared!” Dr. Coomer said. He stepped off to a far part of the lab and pulled out the Combine soldier uniforms that were there. “A little deception is good for old bones!”

“Right, so here’s the plan,” Bubby said, gathering everyone around, and making sure that Barney was still able to hear everything that was going on. “Harold and I are going to get behind enemy lines with our old uniforms, while Gordon and Alyx spread the word as fast as possible. We’ll stall as long as we can, and then we’ll just start gunning Combine guys down.”

“You’re going to end up dead!” Gordon said.

“Or betraying us!” Barney added. “Who brought us these maps?”

“Bubby did!” Dr. Coomer replied happily. 

“How do we know this ambush is even real, then?” Barney asked. “They could be pulling the wool over our eyes!”

Kleiner sighed heavily. “I had hoped that we wouldn’t have to resort to this…” He mumbled. “Bubby, I need you to be-”

“Oh, please don’t,” Dr. Coomer said, grabbing onto Kleiner’s arm. “Dr. Kleiner, please.”

“Just get it over with,” Bubby said.

“Huh?” Gordon asked.

“Bubby, I need you to be completely honest with me, for the sake of your experiment.” As Kleiner spoke, Bubby became more and more relaxed, until they were standing at attention when Kleiner said the word “experiment”. Dr. Coomer was clutching Alyx’s hand tightly, and she squeezed back. “The map you swiped from the Combine, is it real?”

“Yes, sir,” Bubby replied, and their voice was strangely void of emotion. Dr. Coomer pressed his face into Alyx’s shoulder, and she pat his shoulder while she sent Gordon and Barney a very confused look.

“And, can you give me your word, on threat of termination, that you and Dr. Harold Coomer will not betray the resistance when you break back into the Combine?” Kleiner asked.

“I give my word, sir,” Bubby replied, still strangely emotionless.

“Thank you, Bubby,” Kleiner said, and both he and Bubby turned away from each other. “Lord, I hate doing that…”

“How do you think it feels on the other end?” Bubby snapped. Dr. Coomer was by their side in a split second, carefully holding onto their shoulders. “Thank you, Harold,” they whispered, and leaned against Dr. Coomer gently.

“What the hell was that?” Barney asked.

“Bubby is… not exactly human,” Kleiner explained. “They’re part of an experiment we were running back in Black Mesa, an attempt to make the smartest being known to man. However, that required free will, and we were more than prepared for the possibility for a subject to lie. We installed a chip into each subject’s brain that allowed us to force it into being completely honest. It was originally used to get accurate data, but…”

“Some assholes took advantage of it,” Bubby said. “So… it got shut off in everyone but me.” They sighed dramatically. “The price of success…”

“Are you alright?” Alyx asked them, carefully reaching out to take one of their hands.

“Yeah, it takes a lot more than that to take Bubby down,” they said, squeezing her hand before they wrapped both arms around Dr. Coomer, who had pressed his face into their chest. “Breath, Harold, I’m alright,” they whispered to him.

“So… we can trust them,” Barney said. He was looking Bubby up and down strangely, and Gordon felt the very rare urge to slap him (Barney in particular is what made the urge rare, he felt the urge to slap people all the time).

“Yes, but don’t get any ideas, Barney,” Kleiner said. “Bubby’s chip was also designed to only respond to specific voices. We’re lucky that I’m one of the few that is included in that.”

“And even more lucky that Breen is not,” Dr. Coomer pointed out, carefully moving his face away from Bubby’s chest. “Well… after that rollercoaster, why don’t we go commit some good ol’ crimes against nature, eh, Gordon? Alyx?”

“I’m ready!” Alyx said.

“Yeah, just a sec,” Gordon said. He turned his attention back to Barney, who was giving him a small smile. “Please stay put? I don’t want you to rip your stitches and end up in even worse trouble.”

“I’ll be careful, doc,” Barney said quietly. “Go do what you do best.”

“What, get into trouble?” Gordon asked, and his heart felt warm when Barney laughed quietly.

“I meant save people,” he said, “but you’d better not do what you do best. Thanks for reminding me of what that actually is.”

“Anytime,” Gordon said. He stared at Barney for a long moment, and he just stared back. Gordon’s mouth felt dry, so he did what he always did when that happened and swallowed down the emotions making it that way. “Stay safe, Barn,” he said, and waved to him slightly as he left the lab.

“You too, doc,” Barney replied, returning the wave.

“I really thought you were going to do it this time,” Alyx said after she’d shut the secret door to the lab.

“Has he been like this the whole time they’ve known each other?” Dr. Coomer asked.

“The _whole_ time,” Alyx replied.

“Shut up, all of you,” Gordon griped.

“Coward,” Bubby replied, and they cackled when Gordon swung his crowbar at them (although he did it with the intent to miss).

* * *

Gordon slammed himself against the right side of the doorway, and he kept ushering people through said doorway while Alyx pressed herself to the opposite side and fired as best as she could through the stream of allies coming through the door. “Alyx!” Gordon yelled over the crowd. “You need to go!”

“I’m not going without you!” She yelled back.

“I’m going looking for Coomer and Bubby!” Gordon yelled. “You can’t come with me!”

“Are you fucking insane?!?” Alyx yelled. The Combine was getting closer, so they abandoned that doorway to fall back to the next, slightly safer, area. “You’ll end up in the heart of these guys, and that’s what we’ve been trying to avoid ever since you showed up again!” 

“You want me to just leave them?” Gordon asked.

“I’ll look for them,” Alyx said. She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the way of a couple bullets, before someone else shut the door as the massive group of people continued to evacuate the building. “You need to make sure everyone is going somewhere safe, okay?”

“Alyx, seriously, your dad would kill me if anything happened to you,” Gordon said. “ _I’d_ kill me if anything happened to you!”

“I’ll be fine!” She said. “Gordon, we seriously can’t lose you.”

“We can’t lose you either!” Gordon argued. They both turned their heads to where they’d come from when a couple Combine soldiers burst the door open. Alyx opened fire, but Gordon grabbed her hand after the third shot as Bubby ripped their helmet off.

“BOTH OF YOU MOVE YOUR ASSES!!!” They screamed, and all four of them continued the retreat. 

Gordon made sure to yell warnings ahead of them about Bubby and Coomer being safe so no one would open fire on them. They were still clipped every now and then, but it wasn’t until Coomer collapsed with a loud yell that the rest of them stopped.

“Harold!” Alyx was the first to shove her way through the crowd to him, but Bubby and Gordon weren’t far behind.

“I-I’m alright!” Dr. Coomer said. “My leg is acting up!”

“It doesn't ‘act up’!” Bubby shouted. “That thing is bulletproof, waterproof, flameproof-”

“We don’t have time for this!” Dr. Coomer yelled. He struggled to his feet with Alyx’s help. “Dear, I need you to keep going,” he said to her.

“But-!”

“No! All three of you keep going!” Dr. Coomer said.

“You’re kidding!” Gordon yelled.

“Bubby, take them to our safehouse,” Dr. Coomer said, “don’t stay longer than necessary.”

“Harold…” Bubby sobbed quietly, and Dr. Coomer reached up to wipe away their tears. “You’ll meet us there, won’t you?”

“Bubby… I’ll do my best,” Dr. Coomer said. He kissed Bubby gently, before shoving at their chest. “Get out of here!”

Alyx took Bubby’s hand and dragged them along while Gordon followed behind them. Between the two of them, they managed to get Bubby far enough away that they refocused on getting the group (now down one member) away. They stopped every now and then to give others that were fleeing directions, but for the most part the three of them kept moving in the direction Bubby led them. Ducking through back allies, vaulting over fences, racing along secluded roofs, and dodging around Combine soldiers made for a long trek to somewhere that would only be about ten minutes if they had walked as normal.

“Here,” Bubby finally said, breathless, as they stopped in front of a building with thin metal walling. They pulled aside a plate of it, and waved Gordon and Alyx in, then pulled the plate closed behind them as they entered. “It’s not… it’s not much, but… it’s fine for a little while.” They practically collapsed, and Alyx just barely managed to catch them. “I… he’s…”

“He said he’d meet us here,” Alyx said, but Gordon could tell that not even she believed it. “We’ll stay here for… for as long as we can, okay?”

“Alyx…” Gordon started, but he went quiet when she shot him a glare.

“I don’t… I don’t understand,” Bubby whispered as Alyx helped them into a sitting position against the wall opposite the one they’d come through. “It was… yeah, the cybernetics were old, they were from Black Mesa, b-but… we’d kept them…” They swallowed, and Gordon realized they were going to throw up sooner or later. “We’d kept them as up to date as possible, we did everything we could, I don’t understand…”

“I’m sorry, Bubby,” Gordon said. He carefully sat next to them, and Alyx sat on their other side. “It’s… I mean… he did a lot of great things, and he… he was protecting people, so he di-”

“He’s not dead,” Bubby growled. “No, he’s not dead. He said he’d meet us here. We just… we just have to wait.”

Gordon shared a glance with Alyx, but there wasn’t really much either of them could do. Waiting would be a good idea from a tactical standpoint too. With all the resistance members scattered around and the Combine looking for them all, it would be dangerous to move away from the safe house. So Gordon just nodded, patted Bubby on the back, and stood to take watch. There wasn’t much else for them to do. He tried to ignore the quiet crying and reassurance on the other side of the small safe house, and tried to keep his own tears in. He’d cry later, when they were really safe. 

He wasn’t sure how long they stayed there, but he did know it was several hours, because it was finally starting to get dark when he pushed himself away from the small window that he’d been using to keep watch. “We have to go,” he said quietly.

“He’s not here yet,” Bubby replied, just as quiet. “We can’t go.”

“Bubby… if we don’t go soon, we’ll get caught,” Gordon tried to reason with them, but they just shook their head and didn’t move. “Bubby, I… look, I know this is hard, okay? But we have to keep moving, or we’ll-”

“I’m not leaving until he gets back,” Bubby said. Gordon felt his heart break at the usual anger they tried to put into their tone fell flat because of their clear devastation.

“Alyx, we…” He was going to ask her to try and help him with Bubby, but… she seemed to be lost in her own little world. Something that none of them could ever really afford to do, especially not at times like this. “Alyx,” he said, and he reached out to shake her shoulder to try and rouse her. “Alyx, come on, we’ve got to go.” No response. “Alyx? Hey… hey!” He shook her harder, but her head just lolled from side to side, and his heart forced its way into his throat. “Alyx! Wake up!”

“I-Is she even sleeping?” Bubby asked, turning their attention to the other two.

“I don’t know!” Gordon replied. “Alyx, hey! Are you there?” He snapped in front of her face, but there was still no response.

“She’s still breathing,” Bubby said quietly.

“Is her pulse alright?” Gordon asked, but when he turned his head to try and watch Bubby check, Alyx turned to face him. “Alyx! Oh, thank god, you’re-”

“Fifteen more minutes,” she said.

“U-Um… no, we don’t know if we can afford that,” Gordon replied. “I know it’s hard, but-”

“Fifteen minutes, Gordon. Please,” she looked up at him, and Gordon was struck with such an intense feeling that he hadn’t had in twenty years, at least, chronologically. “Please, Gordon,” she whispered, and he was nodding before he even had a chance to think about his answer. She took Bubby in her arms, and Gordon tuned out their joint crying as he went to stand watch for another fifteen minutes.

Seven of those minutes in, he was really regretting this.

“We have to go!” He hissed at the other two as he watched a large van pull up in the alley by the safe house and a group of people hop out. “We have to go, _now_!” 

“But-” Bubby tried, but Gordon was picking them up and throwing them over his shoulder. “Hey!”

“Quiet!” Gordon hissed. “Someone’s coming!”

“Put me down, I can walk myself,” Bubby answered, and when Gordon did, they were waving him over to another loose piece of sheet metal. “I… okay, we’ll have to d-deal with Har… him later, for now we have to- Alyx, what the hell are you doing?!?”

Gordon jerked his head over to Alyx, who was moving aside the sheet metal that Bubby had moved when the three of them had first entered the safe house. He rushed over to try and stop her, but she slipped between the small gap and raced out into the alley. He swore and quickly pulled it the rest of the way back to chase after her, and he knew Bubby was on his heels. They had just made it out into the alley in time to see…

Alyx practically throw herself at Dr. Coomer, who caught her in a hug easily.

“We thought you died!” Gordon faintly heard Alyx saying, but his blood was rushing in his ears hard enough that he wasn’t sure how he could hear anything at that moment.

“Harold…” Bubby staggered forward, and Alyx let go of Dr. Coomer so he could catch Bubby and hold them close. “Harold, h-holy shit, I… I…”

“I’m alright, Bubby,” Dr. Coomer said quietly, holding them gently. “I’m here, Bubby, I’m just fine.”

“Dr. Coomer?” Gordon finally said. “But… I… what?”

“It’s a very long story, Gordon,” Dr. Coomer said, and he carefully scooped Bubby up, making sure that their face was hidden as they cried quietly. “I’ll tell you on the way home. We’ve got a ride.” He jerked his head to the large van that he’d gotten out of. “The Combine sure does know how to bring people together, eh Gordon?” He chuckled.

“I… fuck, I guess so,” Gordon replied. He followed behind the others to climb into the back of the van, which started a snail’s pace down the alley. He knew that a vehicle of that size speeding down alleys after a raid like that would be way too suspicious, but he also wanted to get back to the lab as soon as possible. Still, the long ride did give him a moment to take stock without being _too_ terrified.

He’d almost lost Dr. Coomer, one of the few people he felt like he could depend on. Sure, that number had grown since Black Mesa, but the number of people he couldn’t trust had skyrocketed since then, and he’d hold onto anyone he could. He’d been so sure that he’d lost the Science Team, and finally finding them, as broken as they may have been, and even though he’d had to turn them away at first… he’d been so happy. Because they were larger than life, in some cases quite literally. They wouldn’t be knocked down, not by the Combine, not by Kleiner’s faulty teleporter, not by any aliens, not by _anything_. But they could, apparently much easier than Gordon had thought too.

He sat across from Dr. Coomer, who was holding Bubby in his lap, half for room and half because Bubby refused to let go of him. He’d said that he’d explain on the way back to the lab, but the entire car was eerily silent. Normally, wherever Gordon went there were always one or two rebellion members who wanted to talk, or shake his hand, or even just give him an excited wave, but now… it was dead quiet. Everyone kept to themselves, all except for Dr. Coomer occasionally shushing Bubby when their sobs got particularly loud, or when Alyx would squeeze Gordon’s own chest. He wasn’t sure when she’d attached herself to him, and he meant that in many ways.

When Gordon had woken up out of his stasis, he’d been… beyond confused. Mr. Coolatta had been there, but Gordon wasn’t sure if he’d actually been… _there_ , if that made any sense. Either way, he was acting completely professional, as if he didn’t know Gordon beyond whatever… “destiny” he had. He’d dumped Gordon on a train with little, if any, explanation, and then Barney had found him. Gordon… he _did_ remember Barney, but nowhere near as well as Barney remembered him. The same went for Kleiner and Eli. Gordon knew them, in the back of his mind, he’d known them, but they acted like he had been their good friend when he’d put them all at acquaintance at best. Maybe it had something to do with the stasis, or maybe the… probably _really_ severe by now PTSD. Whatever the reason might have been, Gordon went along with it all. It seemed that everyone needed some sort of normalcy, and if Gordon could provide it for them, he would, and he’d hope that they’d end up being that for him as well.

And they had, Barney and Alyx in particular.

Barney talked to him like they were old friends, and, as little as Gordon remembered about him, it felt easy to slip into that partial familiarity. Barney would say something, and Gordon would be laughing, although he didn’t know why, and Barney would grin and say something about how he was glad that Gordon remembered that particular inside joke. He’d finally given Gordon the beer that he, apparently, owed him, and that had been nice too. It had been just the two of them, camping out somewhere as they traveled between bases, and it had been calm and nice, the whole evening filled with nothing but fond laughter and jokes, both old and new. But Barney was there for the ugly too, in a way similar but somehow _so_ different from the Science Team. He was there to provide cover fire for Gordon, but he was also there to hold him when the post battle panic set in. He’d patched Gordon up more times than either of them could have counted, and Gordon had done the same for him. They’d woken each other up from night terrors, and somehow always fell asleep in each other’s arms in what would start as an attempt to comfort, and become something… ever so slightly more. They hadn’t talked about it. Gordon wasn’t sure if he wanted to.

Alyx shifted slightly against him, and he wrapped his arms around her in return. She pressed her face into his neck, the small part that was only covered by the undersuit instead of the clunky, metal HEV suit, and Gordon realized that she was crying too, much quieter than Bubby, almost silently. He rubbed a hand up and down her back as they continued the ride in silence.

Alyx… god, Gordon didn’t even know where to begin. Somehow, of all of the people who pretended to know him like they were his best friends, Alyx, the one who’d been _four_ when he disappeared, was the one that he remembered best. He didn’t remember much of her either, but he remembered holding her when she was still very young, and he remembered babysitting a few times, and he was sure that, somewhere in New Mexico, a photo of Alyx and Joshua together still existed. That’s what he remembered most, and that’s why he’d gravitated to her so quickly. She reminded him of Joshua, with her bright eyes and practical jokes and interest in almost everything. And she was twenty years older than Joshua, or… Joshua as Gordon remembered him. He’d never asked about Josh, he was too scared to. So, instead, he looked after Alyx, and he tried not to hold onto the image of a much older Joshua being the one wrapped around him in the back of the van on the ride back to Kleiner’s lab.

“Gordon Freeman?” The man on Gordon’s right said, snapping him out of his haze. People used his full name like that, it was weird, but he was used to it by now. “They said this is where you and your friends would get off.”

“Right,” Gordon replied, and he swallowed the tears he could feel coming, “thanks.” He gently nudged Alyx, and she took a deep breath before she hopped out of the back. Gordon stood and looked Dr. Coomer and Bubby over. Dr. Coomer was leaning heavily against Bubby as they staggered their way out of the van, and Gordon was sure to spot him until they were both on solid ground. He turned back to the group of resistance members before he got off. “Thank you,” he told them, “and to those of you that lost someone today, I’m so sorry. We’re continuing to do our best to keep all of you safe, but I know that loss can still be hard. I… I’m sorry. Stay safe, all of you.” There was a vaguely thankful murmur that ran through the group, as well as some kind smiles, before Gordon hopped out of the van and watched as it left. “That never gets easier…” He mumbled to himself.

“I’m sorry, Gordon,” Dr. Coomer said sympathetically. Both Bubby and Alyx were holding him up at this point. “I can’t imagine the stress of being the One Free Man.”

Gordon laughed quietly. “Dr. Coomer, your leg is beyond fucked up and you’re sympathizing with _me_?”

“We all have our own battles, Gordon,” Dr. Coomer replied.

“Well, let’s worry about yours right now.” Gordon went ahead of the others to make sure that the way was clear, and he held the door open as Alyx and Bubby helped Dr. Coomer stagger in. Kleiner and Barney had already taken him off their hands by the time Gordon was sure the door was shut right. 

“-only an electrical field,” Dr. Coomer was saying, “I’m sure you have the things to fix it lying around, Dr. Kleiner! Nothing to worry about!”

“The rest of you aren’t hurt, are you?” Barney asked, letting the two scientists talk about what they needed to fix Dr. Coomer’s SuperLegs.

“I think Bubby got nicked,” Gordon said, but Bubby just waved him off.

“I’ll help them,” Alyx said. She carefully guided them over to wear they kept the lesser first aid stuff, and Gordon watched as Dr. Coomer reached out to hold Bubby’s hand for the few moments he could as they went past him.

“What about you?” Barney asked.

“Why are you on your feet?” Gordon asked. “You’re gonna rip your stitches.”

“If you really expected me to lay back and do nothing while you all were gone for seven hours… well, then I don’t think you know me as well as you think you do, Gordon.” Gordon swallowed and nodded. Barney seemed to chalk his silence up to distress, since he reached out to take his hand and whisper, “you okay, doc?” to him.

“God no,” Gordon breathed. “I’m, uh… I wasn’t hit at all, though.”

“Hell seems to go where you go, huh?” Barney asked quietly. “We’ve only been back a day, and…” He sighed and squeezed Gordon’s hand. “Well… we should see if there’s anything we can do to help.” He went to let go of Gordon’s hand, but Gordon squeezed his. He turned to Gordon with a confused look. “Doc?”

“Barney, were…” Gordon swallowed thickly as Barney squeezed his hand back. “At Black Mesa, did… um…” He laughed breathlessly. “Fuck, I don’t even know what I’m trying to ask…”

“Gordon,” Barney said quietly, and he took Gordon’s other hand to squeeze them both, “Black Mesa’s gone. And I know that you know that, but… how about… how about we stop worrying about it so much, yeah? No more security guard and scientist, ‘only work friends’, or pretending that we owe each other beers, like we don’t wanna hang out. Just Barney and Gordon. ‘Kay?”

Gordon swallowed and nodded. “Okay,” he said quietly. Barney looked at him almost expectantly, and Gordon was very faintly aware that all the other chatter around the lab had stopped, and he was willing to bet that everyone was looking at the two of them. He couldn’t break his gaze away from Barney’s, and his hands were moving without his permission, and…

He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t kiss Barney.

But he sure as hell could hug him and start crying like a baby. Barney jumped slightly, clearly not expecting that, but he was hugging Gordon back in seconds. He ran a hand through Gordon’s hair as he sobbed against his shoulder. Gordon couldn’t make out the specifics of the comforting things that Barney said to him, but the gentle tone of voice was more than enough to get him crying even harder, but in a more cleansing way. After a while, a couple other pairs of arms wrapped around him, and, before he knew it, everyone was holding him up as violent sobs racked his body. He could just barely make out everyone’s individual voices, but he couldn’t make out any words. Everything was a blur as he was carefully led to somewhere more comfortable and sat down and told to rest. He grasped desperately in front of him when the others started letting go, but Barney was sitting in front of him and taking his hands seconds later.

“It’s okay, Gordon,” he whispered, “it’s all okay. You can cry, I’m here, we’re all here.” Gordon nodded, but he gripped Barney’s hands tightly. “I’m not going anywhere, doc. The others aren’t either. We’ll all be right here when you wake up, okay? You need to rest…” Gordon nodded again, but he still didn’t let go of Barney’s hands. “I gotcha, don’t worry.” Barney slotted himself against Gordon’s side, and wrapped his arms around him when he leaned against him. “Jeez, Gordon, we’ll have to get you out of this damn thing soon.” Barney chuckled as he gently rapped a knuckle against the chestplate of the HEV suit. “You probably need a shower more than the rest of us, and I know I’ve needed one for a good while.”

“Keep talking,” Gordon whispered hoarsely.

“Huh?”

“Doesn’t matter what about, just… keep talking. Please?”

Barney was quiet for a moment, before he began to run his fingers through Gordon’s hair again and said, “no problem, doc.” Gordon closed his eyes as Barney started talking about something from his childhood, a memory much happier than anything any of them had had in several years. He slowly began to drift off as Barney spoke softly and fondly about anything that came to mind. Even after Gordon had fallen asleep, he kept talking, even long after the others had gone to sleep, he stayed up talking and gently running his fingers through Gordon’s hair.


	2. Trip Hazard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A doozy of a chapter folks! Lots of actions!!! Next chapter is gonna be much more chill, more character driven than action driven. I hope you enjoy!

Gordon slowly blinked his eyes open and lifted his head from… oh. From Barney’s lap. Okay, well, this wasn’t actually the first time that had happened, but it was still embarrassing. He sat up as quickly as he could with his head still feeling groggy. A quick glance around made him realize that someone had dragged him to the upper story of the lab, and he and Barney had fallen asleep right by the chain link fence. He glanced into the fenced off area, and sighed in relief when he realized Lamarr wasn’t in there. He stood carefully and looked Barney over. He was still fast asleep, looking more relaxed than Gordon had seen him look in… maybe ever. He didn’t usually watch Barney sleep. Gordon decided to leave him alone, especially because of his stitches, so he carefully climbed down to the main level of the lab.

“Good morning, Gordon!” Dr. Coomer said, slightly quieter than normal. “Alyx is calling her father in the other room, so please try to keep your voice down!”

“Gotcha,” Gordon said. He forwent food for a little while longer, and went to sit next to Dr. Coomer instead. He was sitting by the HEV suit station, and it looked like he’d even grabbed a couple pieces for it as he worked at something in his leg. “Are you gonna be okay?” Gordon asked.

“Of course!” Dr. Coomer replied, and Gordon relaxed when he realized that he was being genuinely cheery and not just trying to be reassuring. “It takes a lot more than a magnetic field to keep me down! Although, I’m afraid that it will have me working through some rather old and worn mechanisms.”

“They’re not going to give out, are they?” Gordon asked.

“Bubby is much more likely to give out before me, Gordon,” Dr. Coomer said. He fiddled with a long coil of wires in silence for a while. “Bubby is doing just fine. We needn’t worry.” Gordon nodded, although he had a feeling that Dr. Coomer wasn’t really talking to him.

“Of course I’m fine, dipshits,” Bubby said as they peeked around the corner into the smaller room. Gordon stifled some laughter when he realized that they were cradling Lamarr like a baby. “What?” They glared at him.

“Nothing,” Gordon said, “it’s just real funny to see you with Lamarr.”

“And why is that?” Bubby asked indignantly.

“Well, you tried to adopt a headcrab in Black Mesa, remember?” Gordon said. “But he attacked Tommy, so we had to kill it.”

“Ah yes! Treasured memories!” Dr. Coomer said. Bubby sat on his other side, and leaned over to kiss his cheek before they started helping with whatever Dr. Coomer was fixing in his leg.

“Um… hey. About that.” Gordon fidgeted with his hands for a moment. Lamarr, seeming to sense his nerves, crawled over to his lap so he could rub at her skin. “Where is Tommy?”

Dr. Coomer and Bubby both went still. “We… don’t know,” Bubby finally said. They went back to Dr. Coomer’s leg, but he sat back a bit to stare up at the ceiling. “He was with us when we got turned over to the Combine, but… they took him off somewhere else and we haven’t seen him since.”

“Darnold claims to still be in contact with him,” Dr. Coomer said, “but we’ve never seen any proof of that. We aren’t about to say anything, the poor man couldn’t handle Black Mesa, I can’t imagine what the past twenty years have been like for his mind.”

“So… Tommy’s dead?” Gordon asked.

“We don’t know for sure, but…” Dr. Coomer trailed off. Gordon let out a long breath that he didn’t realize he’d been holding. That… might have been some of why Mr. Coolatta had acted so strange when he’d woken Gordon up. “I believe you know, from my reaction to Barney the other day, but… we haven’t seen _him_ either.”

“Benrey?” Gordon asked, and Dr. Coomer nodded. “You can say his name, you know. It’s not like we’re gonna summon him by saying his name three times or anything.”

“Showtime,” Bubby mumbled to themself, and Gordon couldn’t help snorting with laughter.

“That’s good, though. I’m not really sure what I’d do if I had to deal with him on top of all this,” he said. “So… we’ve got no Tommy, which is bad, but no Benrey, which is good. I mean… it could be worse…” He sighed. “I saw Mr. Coolatta though.”

“Oh? When?” Dr. Coomer asked.

“He’s the one that woke me up from stasis. But… something about it was… weird. He didn’t seem to… _know_ me, if that makes sense. He knew I was Gordon Freeman, and that I was important and had some ‘destiny’ or some shit, but… no mention of Tommy, or you guys, or anything else. Plus, I’m… not even sure if he was really there. It kinda seemed like a hologram of him, or something.” Gordon sighed. “I don’t know, I just know that he’s still around somewhere, and he might still be watching me.”

“Who might be watching you?” All three of them jumped when Alyx spoke, and Dr. Coomer yelped when Bubby pulled something in the leg they were working on. They murmured apologies and took his hand to kiss his knuckles. 

“No one’s watching me,” Gordon said, “I’m just being paranoid. What’s up? I thought you were talking to your dad.”

“I was, and I still am,” Alyx said. “Darnold wants to talk to you.”

“I’m coming,” Gordon said, pushing himself to his feet. Lamarr leapt out of his lap and landed on Dr. Coomer’s head. He didn’t even flinch. “If Barney wakes up, make sure Lamarr doesn’t try to say good morning to him, okay? He will hurt himself worse by trying to… I don’t know, hurt her somehow.”

“I make no promises, Gordon!” Dr. Coomer said as Lamarr tried to eat his brain. 

Alyx giggled before she took Gordon’s hand to drag him into the other room. Gordon spared a small wave to Kleiner, who smiled back at him. “He’s here!” Alyx said, gesturing dramatically to Gordon.

“Gordon! It’s so good to see you!” Eli said.

“Good to see you too,” Gordon replied. “Sorry about the radio silence… Barney and I ran into some troubles at a nearby base a while back and… well, stuff got hectic afterwards too.”

“So I’ve heard,” Eli said. “Rumors still spread fast, it seems.”

“The two Combine soldiers who were with you were Dr. Coomer and Bubby, right?” Darnold asked, and Gordon felt a little bad for being surprised by him since Alyx had said he was the one who wanted to see him.

“Yeah,” Gordon replied, “and they both got hit a bit hard.” He paused for a second. “Hey, Alyx, did Dr. Coomer ever tell you how he got back to us after the issue with his leg?”

Alyx looked terrified, but only for a split second. “Nope,” she replied. “I assumed that one of the other resistance members helped him up when they realized he was firing at the Combine and not them.”

“Makes sense…” Gordon said quietly, nodding. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to derail the conversation.”

“No worries, Gordon!” Darnold replied. “I actually wanted to talk to you in private, uh… if you two wouldn’t mind?”

“Wait, what’s up?” Alyx asked.

“It’s nothing, really, just something personal,” Darnold said. He and Alyx held eye contact for a long moment, and Gordon felt almost like time was paused around him. A feeling that… he actually knew fairly well.

“Alright…” Alyx relented, although she still sounded suspicious. “Gordon, you have to come get me when you’re done so I can say bye to my dad, okay?”

“You got it,” Gordon replied. “Sorry we can’t talk more, Eli.”

“No worries, Gordon!” Eli replied. “I’m sure we can find time to talk again soon.” He turned his attention to Alyx and gave her a warm smile that made Gordon’s heart prickle with jealousy. “I’ll see you in a little while, sweetheart.”

“Okay, Dad,” Alyx replied. She blew him a kiss, before she left. Gordon noticed that, after a short conversation, she took Kleiner with her. He hadn’t been paying attention, Gordon wouldn’t even have noticed if he’d stayed, and he was willing to bet that Kleiner wouldn’t have even heard anything. Darnold had said privacy, but… why was Alyx taking it so seriously?

“Gordon? Are you alone?” Darnold asked, snapping Gordon out of his thoughts.

“Yeah,” he replied. “What’s going on?”

“I heard from Tommy last night,” Darnold said. “He got in contact with me with some info about what’s about to happen with the Combine, and-”

“Darnold, Dr. Coomer, Bubby and I were talking about him just a minute or two ago,” Gordon cut in. “They told me about what happened back when you all first got captured.” He took a deep breath. “They didn’t want to say anything, and I think maybe that was a good move _at first_ , but it’s been twenty years, and-”

“You’re going to tell me he’s dead, aren’t you?” Darnold asked, sounding angry. “He’s not dead, Gordon.”

“I guess we don’t know for sure…” Gordon said, “but, Darnold, c’mon, man, how likely is it that he’s alive?”

“Pretty fucking likely, considering I talked to him last night,” Darnold snapped. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Look, you don’t have to believe me, but can you at least listen to what he told me to tell you?”

“Fine,” Gordon said, “but we’re going to talk about this a lot more the next time I see you in person.”

“Which, if you actually do what I’m about to tell you to, should be very soon,” Darnold said, and Gordon leaned forward, his interest piqued. “Tommy told me that the Combine’s raid on the residential area yesterday was only the beginning, both for City 17 and us out here at Black Mesa East. More raids are coming, and they aren’t going to be pretty.”

Gordon chewed on the inside of his cheek. Darnold not coping well with Tommy’s passing and thinking he was talking to him (probably in dreams or something) wasn’t real, he was sure of it, but the possibility of more raids or attacks wasn’t unlikely at all. “Did he say anything specific?” Gordon asked.

“Yeah, he said there was somewhere that we should all meet up,” Darnold said. “Or, well, your group and a small group from here, at least. If everyone in City 17 and Black Mesa East went to the same location… that’d be a disaster for a lot of reasons.”

Gordon nodded. “Where did he want us to meet up?” He asked. Look, just because he didn’t believe that Tommy had actually talked to Darnold didn’t mean that overlooking any information Gordon could get was a good idea.

“There’s a rebel base between City 17 and Black Mesa East,” Darnold said, “named Fort Nice.” Gordon snorted with laughter. “I know, I had the same reaction, but I asked Dr. Vance, and it’s a real place!”

“You’re kidding,” Gordon said.

“Not in the slightest, Gordon,” Darnold replied. “I haven’t been able to get a message through to them, but Dr. Vance showed me some old logs from communications with them when I asked to see them. I don’t think the people there are as scientifically inclined as us, so it’s looking like a lot of our work will have to be put on hold, but staying safe is our number one priority.”

“This is great and all, but where is… Fort Nice?” Gordon asked.

“There’s a small forest area between our bases,” Darnold said, “and it’s somewhere in there. I can’t give you more specific directions right now, but I’m sure someone there with you can.”

“Darnold… how, exactly, am I supposed to convince the others to go?” Gordon asked. He was actually considering the plan, as ridiculous as the premise Darnold had given him about it was. Somewhere outside of City 17 would definitely be safer, especially since Gordon had been here for a good few months by now.

“I’m… not sure,” Darnold said. “I was honestly more focused on how I’d get Dr. Vance to go for it. I didn’t stay in City 17 long enough to really get to know any of your group.”

“Yeah, okay…” Gordon mumbled. “I’ll… I’ll figure something out.” He took a deep breath. “Is there anything else Tommy said to do?”

“He said we should try and meet up as soon as possible,” Darnold said, “and… this part was specifically for you… hold on, I’m trying to remember the words he used…” Gordon waited while Darnold mumbled various broken off sentences under his breath, and he was just about to tell Darnold to give it up and give up on the whole thing when he spoke again. “He said that, if you were going to go through the old mines to be… ‘slower than molasses drips off a spoon’.” Gordon felt frozen to the spot while Darnold chuckled. “He’s always using those silly analogies… that was a new one, though.”

“Right,” Gordon said, and he suddenly felt breathless. The Science Team hadn’t met up with Darnold until _days_ after Tommy had used that one, and if Darnold was claiming to have never heard Tommy use it before… “I’ll figure something out to tell the others. Thanks for the heads up, Darnold.”

“No problem, Gordon,” Darnold replied. “Thank you for actually believing me about Tommy. I get why Bubby and Dr. Coomer didn’t think he was still alive, but it’s nice to have someone actually listen!”

“Yeah, no problem,” Gordon said, and his stomach was tying in knots as he thought about whether or not Darnold’s words were true. “I’m gonna get Alyx so she can say goodbye to Eli.”

“Oh! Right! I’ll go get him!” Darnold said, and he disappeared from the screen.

It took Gordon another moment or two to tear himself away from the screen, and, luckily, he didn’t have to say anything because Alyx was heading towards the communicator as soon as she saw him. Dr. Coomer was on his feet again, walking around tentatively, Bubby spotting him in case he fell. Kleiner was holding Lamarr like she was a cat, and even scratching behind where her ears would be if she was one. Gordon couldn’t help grinning every time he did that. Barney was awake now, and he was looking over the HEV suit station. Gordon came up behind him, trying to make enough noise that he was noticed, but Barney still jumped when he put a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Gordon said quickly.

“No worries, Gordon!” Barney replied. “I was just looking over what Dr. Coomer took out of here. I know his legs are pretty damn important, but I bet you’d like to get out of that tin can, huh?”

“I mean… yeah, it’d be nice to not have to lug this thing around all day, but at least I’m safe in it,” Gordon replied.

“Gordon… no one else has said anything, but… you kind of stink,” Barney said. “I know that none of us are exactly the pinnacle of cleanliness or whatever, but it’s starting to get really bad.”

“Gordon, you smell like sewage!” Dr. Coomer said, before he toppled over.

Bubby yelped and helped him up, but they were looking at Gordon as soon as Dr. Coomer was on his feet again. “They’re right,” they said, “you’re kind of disgusting.”

“I didn’t want to say anything, Gordon, but, well…” Kleiner trailed off.

“Okay, I get it! I’m a nasty little sewage boy!” Gordon said, and he grinned when Dr. Coomer laughed loudly. Kleiner and Barney were giving them strange looks, but Bubby was smiling just as wide as the two of them were. “Is there even any clean water around?”

“...not a whole lot,” Barney said after another moment of looking back and forth between Dr. Coomer and Gordon, “but I’m sure we can find enough for at least a quick dunk.”

“What’s going on?” Alyx asked as she walked back into the room.

“We’re going to try and get some clean water so Gordon isn’t quite so…” Kleiner trailed off again, but Bubby jumped in to finish his train of thought.

“So he isn’t such a rancid bitch,” they said.

“Oh thank god,” Alyx said with a sigh of relief. “It was starting to get really bad, Gordon.”

“Okay, I get it!” Gordon said again. “Where are we gonna get the water?”

“I think I know a place,” Bubby said.

* * *

It turned out that Bubby’s “place” was a small valley that was almost always filled with rainwater. Which… wasn’t clean by a long shot, but compared to their other option, which was the literal sewers, it’d do. The small group that had gone out, Bubby, Gordon, and Alyx, collected what they could and brought it back. Gordon pointed out on the slower, and therefore more dangerous, trip back that there was running water in the lab. They’d all been drinking it, after all. Alyx filled him in on the fact that they’d been getting less and less lately, and it set off a lightbulb in Gordon’s head.

“Hey, if we’re running out of water, maybe we should relocate,” he said, and he tried to sound nonchalant, or even joking, but it didn’t seem to work.

“Are you kidding?” Bubby asked. “That’s the worst idea ever, you dumbass!”

“I think the worst idea ever would be turning ourselves over to the Combine willingly,” Alyx said, “but that is a pretty bad idea, Gordon. With everything that happened lately, Overwatch members are going to be everywhere, looking for resistance members.”

“You know, that might be a good reason to get out of the city,” Gordon said, adjusting his grip on the bucket he was carrying.

“I mean… maybe,” Alyx said. “I think you’d better ask Barney and Kleiner. They’ll know best, probably.”

“Yeah… yeah, I’ll bring it up with them…” Gordon said, and he didn’t miss the strange look that Bubby gave him.

He _did_ miss the way that Alyx seemed to be running on autopilot the rest of the way back to the lab.

Kleiner and Dr. Coomer had pulled an old tub out of… somewhere by the time they got back to the lab, and Gordon was glad to see that Barney was resting now. He could still rip his stitches after all. Gordon managed to stop Alyx and Bubby before they dumped the water in the tub and reminded them that there were only three rooms and they were setting him up to bathe in the biggest one. Barney laughed as Alyx blushed, and Gordon thought she would’ve tackled him if he weren’t already lying down. Dr. Coomer lifted the tub with ease and carried it into the teleporter’s room. Gordon had to admit he was nervous about getting water anywhere near the gratuitous amounts of electronics in the room, but that was quickly overshadowed by Dr. Coomer informing the group he’d overdone and his legs were locking up.

“Jesus, we’re falling apart…” Barney mumbled as he helped Gordon fill the tub. Bubby and Alyx had helped Dr. Coomer back towards the small room with the HEV suit station in it, that was actually holding the HEV suit while Gordon wore the civilian clothes he’d woken up from stasis in.

“Yeah…” Gordon agreed. He hesitated for a moment, before he decided to go ahead and ask. “Barney… do you think that relocating would be a good idea?”

“The teleporter’s still on the fritz,” Barney said. “Bubby told me that after they sent Darnold though, Kleiner’s headhumper got into the machinery and chewed up half the wiring. Alyx was in there, she was going to visit her dad…” Barney looked distracted for a moment, but he shook his head. “She was fine, just ended up outside the lab, thank god. Point is, Gordon, we can’t relocate at the moment.”

“We don’t have to use the teleporter,” Gordon said quietly.

“What?!?” Barney asked, standing up quickly. He hissed in pain and put his hands to his side, and Gordon practically dropped the bucket he was holding to make sure Barney didn’t fall over. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” he assured Gordon, but he still kept a hand on Barney’s back as he relaxed into his normal stance. “Gordon, you know how stupid that is, right?”

“Is it really?” Gordon asked. “I mean, think about it, Barney! Here we’re stuck doing what we can in shadows, but if we can regroup with other members of the resistance, we’ll figure out a bigger attack that can take on the Combine at the very top!”

“Gordon, what’s going on in that head of yours?” Barney asked, and Gordon felt his stomach twist at how fond he sounded. “That just wouldn’t work, we’re not strong enough for that.”

“But we’re not really making any progress here, either,” Gordon argued. “Just… look, I know you’re not gonna believe this, but…” Gordon trailed off. Bareny wouldn’t believe him. Gordon wasn’t even sure if he believed that Tommy was still alive and was passing on messages to them to help. “I… nevermind,” Gordon finally said. “Just, um… tell the others I’ll be done as soon as possible, okay?”

“I… yeah, I will,” Barney replied. He squeezed Gordon’s shoulder, and Gordon felt like he might collapse when he realized he could fully feel it. “If you need any help, doc, don’t be afraid to ask, okay?”

“Help with… taking a bath?” Gordon asked, and both he and Barney blushed.

“No! With whatever’s going on in your head!” Barney said quickly. He chuckled awkwardly and flicked Gordon’s forehead. “It isn’t healthy to hold all that in. We always said that, remember?”

“We… we did…?” Gordon asked.

Barney looked at him, and Gordon realized that he looked like he was in pain. But it passed in a second, and he nodded. “Yeah, we did,” he said. “Get clean, you smell even worse out of that suit.”

“R-Right…” Gordon said, and he watched as Barney left and closed up the wall between the two main rooms as he went. He sighed heavily as he shrugged off the civilian clothes to get in the bath.

The group on the other side of the door stifled their laughter when he yelled about how cold it was, but he could still hear them.

* * *

“Alright, I think that will do it!” Kleiner said as he stood up fully. He held a hand out to Dr. Coomer, who took it and let Kleiner pull him to his feet. Everyone stood ready to catch him, but they didn’t need to. 

He took a few careful steps, then a few confident ones, and then he spun on his heel to grin at Kleiner. “Excellent work, Doctor!” He said. “They’re good as new!”

“Excellent!” Kleiner replied. He grinned as Bubby launched themself at Dr. Coomer, who caught them easily and didn’t even stagger backwards. “The repairs that you were doing were long overdo ones that had nothing to do with the magnetic field that brought your legs to a stop yesterday. I had to remove some… ‘improvements’ that I’m assuming were from the Combine.”

“They did insist on working on my cybernetics,” Dr. Coomer said thoughtfully, but he didn’t get to say more before Bubby was pressing kisses all over his face, making him laugh. 

“I’m just glad you’re back to normal,” Gordon piped up from where he was putting on the final parts of the HEV suit, “and that you didn’t have to steal any more parts from the station over here. Being out of the suit was _so_ nice, I miss that being my everyday life.”

“You could take it off while we’re here, Gordon,” Kleiner said. “After all, no one has found us.”

“Yet,” Alyx said. She had been leaning against the far wall ever since Gordon had come out of the teleporter room, and she was looking less than pleased. “Gordon, I was thinking about what you said earlier.”

“Yeah?” Gordon asked, turning to her as he finished up with the second glove. “About relocating?”

“I told you, Gordon, that’s a really bad idea,” Barney said.

“I’d have to agree with Barney,” Kleiner said. “There’s no way that we could take all of this with us.”

“We could leave it behind,” Alyx said.

“Are you kidding?!?” Bubby asked. “You just wanna leave behind all this work and traipse through severe danger because… you’ve got cabin fever?”

“After the raid yesterday, you never know when some Overwatch members will be busting the door down,” Alyx argued. “I’m not saying we should do it this very second, but I think we should at least think about it.”

“Where would we even go?” Barney asked. “The teleporter doesn’t work.”

“Are there any bases nearby?” Gordon asked, even though he knew the answer.

“The closest base is Black Mesa East, Gordon!” Dr. Coomer said.

“That’s… not true,” Alyx said. She pushed off the wall to get closer to the group. “There’s a fort in the forest between City 17 and Black Mesa East.”

“Fort Nice?” Barney asked. Bubby and Dr. Coomer snorted, and Barney shook his head fondly. “Yeah, it’s got a dumb name, but Cold insisted on it.”

“‘Cold’?” Gordon asked.

“That’s his codename,” Barney clarified. “After some of the… less anonymous members of the resistance started disappearing, Cold insisted that he and his group use codenames. So far it’s actually worked really well. Their base is probably the safest one. At least, the safest one anywhere near City 17.”

“The terrain certainly helps,” Kleiner added. “The only way to get to Fort Nice from City 17 is to go through some old abandoned mines. There are specific paths that are stable, but without a map, you’d be lost in the maze. The base can be reached on foot from any other direction, but the Combine would have to work hard to get their biggest forces to it.”

“Why aren’t more people there, then?” Gordon asked.

“Size is another reason it’s so safe,” Barney said. “Fort Nice is relatively small, for a base at least. Maybe… a thousand people at most? They’ve always got enough room for people who stop there, though.”

“We should go,” Alyx and Gordon said at the same time. They glanced at each other, and Gordon felt like there was something he was missing, but he wasn’t going to think about it in the moment. “If it’s really that safe, wouldn’t it be a good idea for Gordon to be there?” Alyx asked. “Especially since he’s becoming more and more known around City 17. It won’t be long before someone with bad intentions spots him and decides to rat us out.”

“You all need to be safe, too,” Gordon pressed. “Seriously, getting out there would be a good idea.”

“Gordon, is there something you’re not telling us?” Dr. Coomer asked.

“W-What? No! I’m being totally honest with you guys!” Gordon said.

“No… something’s definitely wrong,” Barney said. He carefully approached Gordon, and Alyx stepped out of the way to let him. “What’s going on, Gordon?”

“It’s nothing! Seriously!” Gordon insisted.

“Now, Gordon, if something is wrong, you need to tell us!” Dr. Coomer said.

“Are you going loopy?” Bubby asked.

“I…” Gordon gleaned at Alyx, but she just shrugged. “Okay, yeah, um… Darnold told me we should go to Fort Nice.”

“Why?” Kleiner asked.

“Um… well, you see… uh…”

“You fell for his Tommy bullshit, didn’t you?” Bubby asked, and Gordon could tell they wanted to sound mad, but they just sounded sad. Apparently, Gordon’s silence was enough, because Bubby was pushing past Barney to get to him. “Listen, he’s gone, okay? He has been for twenty years. You need to move the fuck on.”

“To be fair, Bubby, Gordon has only known for a few days,” Dr. Coomer said weakly.

“No, I… they’re right, Dr. Coomer,” Gordon said. He sighed heavily. “We don’t exactly have time to… to dwell on him. And I shouldn’t follow along with the plans of a dead man.” He pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes. “I… can I have a minute? Just… I’m gonna go up on the roof, take a minute.”

“Of course, Gordon,” Kleiner said. “I… don’t quite understand, but it seems that you’ve all lost someone, and that can certainly take a toll.”

“Take all the time you need, doc,” Barney said.

“Thanks,” Gordon replied weakly. He left Kleiner’s lab, and he felt everyone’s eyes on him as he did, but especially Dr. Coomer and Bubby’s. He climbed up to the roof and rested his chin against his knees, a position made uncomfortable by the HEV suit. “Stupid Gordon…” He mumbled to himself. “Of course he’s dead. Darnold’s just not coping well, it doesn’t mean anything.” He stared out at the city, and a small part of his brain told him it was his fault that Tommy was dead. Dr. Coomer had mentioned that the Combine got their hands on the Science Team after Black Mesa. If Gordon had been there, maybe he could have stopped it.

Why… why wasn’t he there?

“Your… stasis had already begun… Mr. Freeman.”

Gordon yelped and jumped to his feet. He almost fell off the roof, but the person standing behind him caught his elbow. They stabilized him, and he turned quickly to see them. As he did, he realized that the world around him seemed to have frozen. He swallowed when he recognized both the state of the world and the voice that had just spoken.

“What’s… wrong, Mr. Freeman?” Mr. Coolatta asked. “You look like you’ve… seen a ghost.”

“You’re… what?” Gordon asked. “Mr. Coolatta?”

He stood for a moment, almost as frozen as the world around him, before he shook his head slowly. “My apologies… Mr. Freeman, I… do not know anyone with that… name,” Mr. Coolatta said.

“Dude. It’s literally you,” Gordon replied, unimpressed. “You’re the only guy I know who can freeze time. Okay, maybe Benrey, but he’s dead. And he’d definitely never wear a suit.”

“I’m not… familiar with a… Ben-rey,” Mr. Coolatta said. “I merely came to… pass along a message.”

“Okay…?” Gordon said. “What would that be?”

“My employers are… advising you to not listen to anyone… claiming to know more about the world than they… should,” Mr. Coolatta replied. 

“What, like… like Darnold?” Gordon asked.

“Not… him, specifically…” Mr. Coolatta replied, and Gordon noticed that the grip on his briefcase tightened.

“Tommy?” Gordon asked.

“I… don’t know anyone named that,” Mr. Coolatta said. Gordon raised an eyebrow at him, but his gaze didn’t waiver. It made Gordon look away, and he watched as… this man came back into his view only to leave again as he circled him. “Mr. Freeman, you… certainly seem to be ready to… face off the Combine.”

“Are you kidding?!?” Gordon asked. “I’d get my ass kicked!”

“Oh, I see,” the man replied, and a small smile slipped onto his face for a moment, before he schooled his expression back into place. “Well… my employers did advise you to… not listen to anyone claiming to know… too much.”

“Are you saying that I shouldn’t listen to you?” Gordon asked. The man didn’t reply. “But I shouldn’t listen to Tommy either?” More silence. “Man, fuck you! This is confusing as fuck!”

“Well… I suppose you’ll just have to… puzzle through it yourself,” the man replied. “You are a… theoretical physicist, after all. I believe that… you can make your own decisions.” He winked at Gordon, and Gordon smiled. Yeah, it was Mr. Coolatta. As… strange and cryptic as he might be, it was him. “Oh, I… nearly forgot.” He set his briefcase on top of midair and popped it open. A strange blue light shone on his face from inside it. He reached inside, much further than he should be able to with how deep the briefcase appeared on the outside. After a moment, he pulled his arm out again and handed Gordon…

“Sunkist,” Gordon said with a small smile. “Yeah, that tracks. Thanks, Mr. Coolatta.”

“Again, I… don’t know anyone with that… name,” Mr. Coolatta replied, but he couldn’t seem to stop smiling now. “I believe that… a young Ms. Vance has never been able… to experience the joys of a simple… soda. I’d appreciate if you could pass… it along.”

“I’ll try to keep Coomer and Bubby from it long enough to,” Gordon replied, and Mr. Coolatta’s smile widened again, before he regained his neutral expression.

“Thank you… for your time, Mr. Freeman,” he said. “I will… see you soon, I’m sure.” He reached up and snapped his fingers, and the world seemed to resume it’s timing.

Gordon stared at the Sunkist soda in his hands for a moment, before he grinned. He slid down the roof, hopped back through the window and raced back into the lab, careful to not shake the soda as he went. He shut the door loudly behind him.

“Gordon! Please be careful, you don’t know who could hear you!” Kleiner said.

“You weren’t gone very long, doc,” Barney said, looking Gordon over. “You seem to be doing a lot better, though!”

“Alyx,” Gordon said, grinning at her when she turned to him with a confused expression, “I’ve got something for you.” He, very gently, tossed the soda can to her.

Alyx looked it over for a second. “Um… ‘Sunkist’?”

“Soda!” Dr. Coomer said, and Gordon just barely had time to wrap his arms around his chest to keep him from barreling towards Alyx and ripping the soda away from her.

“Where’d you get that?” Bubby asked, bewildered.

“Boys, we’re going to Fort Nice!” Gordon said, grinning widely. “If one Coolatta isn’t going to be around, the other sure as hell is!”

“What the fuck are you talking about?!?” Barney asked.

“Fuck yeah!” Bubby shouted, jumping in excitement as their shirt caught fire briefly.

Everyone was so focused on putting out the fire that they didn’t notice that Alyx held the soda over her right shoulder for a moment before she drank it.

* * *

“You’re saying we should destroy it?” Kleiner asked. He was staring at the far wall, particularly the picture of the Science Team. Well… not _the_ Science Team. Kleiner’s own Science Team.

“I understand the hesitance to scrap a project, Doctor, but we really do think it would be in your best interest,” Dr. Coomer said, patting Kleiner’s back sympathetically. It still made him jolt forwards slightly.

“I still don’t understand why we’re doing this,” Barney said. “Fort Nice is… yeah, it’s safe, but we’re really going to abandon everyone in City 17?”

“You can stay if you’d like,” Bubby said.

“No!” Everyone turned to look at Barney, who immediately started blushing at his outburst. “I… if Kleiner’s going, I have to. I’m protecting him.”

“A security guard through and through, eh, Barney?” Kleiner said, and it made him and Barney laugh, but Bubby, Dr. Coomer, and Gordon all shared an anxious glance. Alyx was still in the corner, sitting out her sugar crash. Bubby had dared her to chug the Sunkist, and she’d gotten maybe a little too excited. No one had thought about how much one sugary drink would affect someone who’d had very little for their entire life.

“Bubby’s right, though, Barney!” Dr. Coomer said. “We will all keep Dr. Kleiner safe, if you’d like to stay here and continue to protect the people of City 17!”

“That’s… I…” Barney glanced towards Gordon, who felt his face heat up. “No. I’m coming. I can’t let you all go alone, I’m the one who knows the mines best.”

“Pretty quick change of mind,” Bubby said smugly.

“Shut up,” Barney replied, looking away.

“Okay, enough of that,” Gordon said. “If we’re really leaving, we’ve got to destroy the teleporter, right?”

“But… I’ve worked so hard on it…” Kleiner said.

“Yeah, you worked so hard on me too,” Bubby mumbled.

“That was a different circumstance,” Kleiner replied. “None of us wanted to, but-”

“You lost the grant, yeah, I know,” Bubby finished.

“Okay, we really don’t need to be fighting right now,” Gordon said. “We’ve just got to figure out if we’re going to destroy the teleporter or not.”

“Why would we need to destroy it?” Barney asked. “I still don’t get why you three insist on us going!” He gestured to Gordon, Bubby, and Dr. Coomer.

“Barney, trust me, it’s a good idea,” Gordon said.

“I want to, Gordon, I do! But I need a little more than just some trust to leave these people behind! I’ll follow you anywhere, Gordon, you know that,” both of them blushed, but it didn’t slow Barney down, “but I need to know why we’re going! And… and what the hell was with the soda? And… ‘Coolatta’? Is that what you said? Isn’t that a drink from Dunkin' Donuts? You’re not making any sense!”

“Gordon… where’s Alyx?” Dr. Coomer asked, cutting off whatever Gordon was going to say in response.

“She’s… in the corner?” Gordon replied, but when he turned, there was no Alyx. “What…?”

“Did she leave?” Barney asked. He stood quickly, but stumbled slightly. Dr. Coomer righted him carefully.

“I’ll look,” Gordon said. “You guys figure out what to do about the teleporter, okay?” He didn’t wait for a reply before he was heading out of the lab. He climbed up to the roof, expecting to find Alyx there, or at least hoping to see her from there. It took him a moment of scanning the ground to find her, and he nearly screamed when he did.

She was being dragged along by an Overwatch member who had handcuffed her and seemed to be on the radio.

Gordon didn’t give himself time to think before he was jumping off the roof, his crowbar (and thank god he’d decided to bring it) coming down on the Overwatch member’s head. “Ow! Hey!” They said, so Gordon hit them again. “Seriously? Get off!” They didn’t get to speak anymore before Alyx threw her weight against them, knocking them to the ground, and giving Gordon an opening to hit them in the head again.

“No more debate, we’ve gotta get out of here!” Alyx said. “They figured out where the lab is!”

“Your hands!” Gordon said, but Alyx was already rushing into the building again. Gordon followed after her, and he felt like he was on high alert. When he’d caught up with Alyx, she was struggling to open the hidden door with her hands immobile. Gordon gently shouldered her out of the way and opened the door. “We’ve gotta go! Now!” He shouted into the lab.

“What?” Barney asked.

“No time!” Alyx yelled as she rushed inside.

“Dear, why are you handcuffed?” Dr. Coomer asked, standing up quickly.

“No fucking time!” Gordon repeated.

“I swiped a grenade from them,” Alyx said to him as he fiddled with the lock on the handcuffs. Gordon pulled it out of her pocket and tossed it to Bubby. “They’ve already found us, blowing up the teleporter won’t do much.”

“Got it,” Gordon said as he finished picking the lock of the handcuffs. He made sure Alyx could move fine, before he turned to the frozen group. “We don’t have time!” He shouted. “Bubby! Explosives!”

“R-Right!” Bubby replied, and they rushed for the picture of Kleiner’s Science Team. 

“Dr. Coomer, Kleiner, see if there’s anything we can bring with us,” Gordon said, and both men nodded before they started frantically sorting through the smaller equipment in the lab.

“I’m already deleting important information!” Alyx called from the computer near the HEV suit room.

“You were right, Gordon,” Barney said quietly. “This is going to end badly…”

“We don’t have time for guilt,” Gordon replied. “Can you get through to anyone? See if they have any way for us to get to the mines?”

“I’ll try,” Barney said, his usual determined demeanor back. “You can count on me, doc.”

“I know,” Gordon replied, and he gave Barney a small smile, before he went to climb up to the upper level of the lab. “Okay, Lamarr, I know you’ve been hiding up here,” he said quietly. “I don’t have time to play games, so I need you out here right now.” Gordon just barely had time to hold his arms out to catch the headcrab when she jumped down from the rafters. “You’re a smart little thing, yeah?” She made a loud chirping noise, right before a loud boom sounded through the lab. Gordon felt the heat from the explosion, and he heard lots of coughing behind him, although he held his own coughs in. “Here’s what you’re gonna do, okay?” He said, still talking to Lamarr, even as the others below him started yelling in panic. “You’re gonna go out there, and you’re gonna raise hell until you catch the attention of a certain man in a black suit, okay?” Gordon felt like an absolute _idiot_ asking a headcrab to help him find Mr. Coolatta, but he didn’t have many other options. “Don’t worry, we’ll come back for you,” he said, and he wasn’t entirely sure if he was lying or not. “Okay?” Lamarr chirped again, before she jumped out of Gordon’s arms and into the rafters again.

“Gordon!” A loud shout came from behind him, but it sounded too far off. He turned around quickly, and just barely caught Barney dragging Alyx away through the rubble of the teleporter room. He heard someone banging against the door to the lab, and more shouts from Overwatch members coming from the rubble.

“Shiiiiiiit,” he hissed to himself, before he started prying rafters and pieces of the ceiling out. He was just climbing out when the first Overwatch members made their way into the lab. “Okay, Gordon. You’re going to have to sprint faster than you’ve ever sprinted in your life,” he mumbled, before he took off like a shot, a loud, “Gordon, jump!” trailing behind him as he made his way along the rooftops of City 17.

* * *

“He’ll be here soon, he has to be here soon…” Barney mumbled as he paced back and forth beside the airboat.

“This is starting to feel awfully familiar…” Bubby said quietly. They were sitting on the edge of the dock, Dr. Coomer behind them as he held them.

“Dr. Coomer,” Kleiner said, “how did you get back to us after your SuperLegs gave out?”

“I… don’t quite remember, in all honesty,” Dr. Coomer replied. “I remember… someone picking me up, but I couldn’t see who they were. It felt almost like… like they weren’t really there.”

 _“I-I told you._ ” Alyx hummed, but didn’t say anything in return. None of the others reacted to the voice. _“He’ll be here soon. S-Stall if they, um… if they w-want to leave.”_

“We don’t know how much longer we can be safe here…” Kleiner said, and Alyx stood up from where she was leaning against a wall. “Gordon won’t even have a way to find us. We need to keep moving.”

“No.” Barney spoke before Alyx had the chance to. “No, we’re not leaving without Gordon.”

“Barney…” Kleiner sighed. “I understand why you feel the need to protect him, but-”

“He’s important to the resistance, isn’t he?” Dr. Coomer asked.

“Exactly,” Alyx said. “We can wait a little longer.” She realized Barney was staring at her, and she raised an eyebrow at him. He seemed to snap out of his trance, and went back to pacing.

_“That wasn’t me. M-Might want to set him straight about you and… about the way you see Mr. Freeman.”_

“Noted,” Alyx muttered, but she didn’t have the chance to say anything else before there was a loud splashing noise from down the tunnel, followed by a loud gasp. Everyone jumped to their feet, ready to attack, but a voice stopped them.

“That better be a boat, because I just had to swim through several miles of sewage!” Gordon said as he pulled himself up onto the dock. “And you two,” he pointed at Dr. Coomer and Bubby, “don’t get to say anything, alright?”

“Gordon!” Barney rushed to Gordon with the intent of hugging him, but… “Uh… I guess we can have heartwarming greetings later.”

“I’ll say,” Gordon said. “I was followed the whole way. I lost them when I decided to start swimming, but… I dunno how long it’ll take them to find us.”

“Don’t worry, Gordon!” Dr. Coomer said. “This boat has been equipped with a gun that rivals… The Big One.”

“I don’t think anything could ever match The Big One,” Gordon said.

“How do you know about that?” Kleiner asked. “I thought that was left behind in the Mixology department.”

“It was!” Dr. Coomer said. “We found it there on our way to the Lambda Lab!”

“This is great and all, but we really should get going,” Alyx said. She hopped onto the airboat, and it creaked slightly. “Uh… that’s not good.”

“This is a small boat…” Barney said. “I don’t know how we’re all going to fit…”

“I’ve got an idea,” Gordon said. He went searching for a few crates, and pried pieces of wood from them with his crowbar. “Are there any cables around here?”

“Gordon, if what I’m thinking what you’re thinking, we might need some… ropes.” Dr. Coomer grinned and Gordon grinned back.

“Dr. Coomer, you’re an absolute genius.”

* * *

“This is fucking awesome!” Alyx screamed over the sound of the boat’s engine and the (admittedly disgusting) water that was being splashed up around her and behind her.

“Harold, why didn’t we do this sooner?!?” Bubby shouted, which earned a loud laugh from Dr. Coomer.

“We would have if things had been normal!” Dr. Coomer yelled back.

“You guys know we’re under attack, right?!?” Barney shouted to them, before he unloaded his gun at the Hunter-Chopper following behind them.

“Don’t worry, we’re losing them soon!” Kleiner shouted. “A left, Gordon!”

“This is insane!” Gordon screamed, but he took a hard left, which got Alyx and Bubby coated in sewage water. Luckily, they both had time to close their eyes and mouths, but Alyx vowed that Gordon’s bath at the lab would not be the last one that was taken today. “That tunnel?”

“Yes! We’re almost there!” Kleiner yelled. “Look out for the jump!”

The whole group screamed as the jump into the tunnel they needed to take sent them rocketing up towards the top of it. Alyx, Bubby, and Dr. Coomer clung tightly to their “ropes”, and did their best to not hit their heads against the concrete tunnel roof. Alyx lost her balance on the way down, but Dr. Coomer caught her before she could skid along the bottom of the tunnel without anything protecting her. Gordon slowly brought the airboat to a stop, and Bubby and Dr. Coomer came to a slow stop as well. “That was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done…” Kleiner said.

“It was awesome!” Alyx yelled as Dr. Coomer set her down. “Why can’t resistance missions always be like that?”

“We wouldn’t-” Barney started, but Alyx cut him off.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, we wouldn’t actually get anything done,” she said. “Speaking of getting things done… where’re the mines?”

“And how are we going to get through them?” Bubby asked. “Parts of them are rigged, right?”

“I know the way, don’t worry,” Barney said. He hopped out of the boat, and held out a hand to help Gordon out as well. Gordon blushed as he took it, and Kleiner mumbled, good naturedly, about how the old man was the one who really needed help. Alyx bumped Gordon’s shoulder teasingly as she passed him, and grinned when he blushed. “The mines themselves shouldn’t be hard to find once we get out of this tunnel.”

“Gordon, I have a bad feeling about this…” Dr. Coomer said, jogging forward to walk by Gordon.

“We don’t have anything to worry about, Coomer,” Gordon replied. “The mines were made for safe travel, remember?”

“We do have to walk for a while to get to the mines,” Barney said, glancing over his shoulder at the rest of the group. “And… we are pretty low on weaponry…”

“I grabbed my pistol,” Alyx said, pulling it from it’s holster on her hip. “It’s not… _too_ wet… the gunpowder should be fine.”

“Are you a good aim?” Bubby asked.

“Are you kidding?” Barney asked with a quiet laugh. “Alyx is a better aim than me! She’s a real crackshot!”

“I learned from the best!” Alyx replied, grinning at Barney.

“I dunno about that…” Barney replied, and he rubbed the back of his neck.

“I think you’re a pretty good shot, Barney,” Gordon said. “You did amazing back at the Black Mesa shooting range. I mean, it was all practice, but still!”

“You… remember that?” Barney asked. He stopped and turned to Gordon, who suddenly felt like he was a deer caught in headlights.

“I… yeah?” He replied. “I mean, m-maybe it’s a weird thing to remember, but, y’know…” He trailed off and tried to figure out _why_ he remembered that. He remembered the conversation flowing easily, the two of them making each other laugh with only a few words. He even remembered Barney pressed against his back as he taught him how to shoot. “That’s how I knew what to do in Black Mesa…” He mumbled to himself.

“I thought so, but I’m real glad to know I was right.” He jumped as he realized that Barney had gotten close enough to hear him. “Gordon… I wasn’t really going to bring this up, but-”

“Get down!” 

Both Gordon and Barney dropped to the ground when Alyx yelled, and Barney started reaching for his pistol when they heard gunshots. “What’s happening up there?!?” He shouted.

“Combine ambush!” Alyx yelled back.

“We have to get to the mines. Now,” Barney said, hopping up and rushing closer to the end of the tunnel. Gordon followed after him, his crowbar at the ready, although he really wished he had a gun. Or any other ranged weapon, really. “This way!” Barney called over his shoulder as he raced away from the Combine’s cover. The others followed, Dr. Coomer carrying Kleiner as they ran. 

Gordon could hear heavy footfall behind them, and he scooped Alyx up as he ran. She screamed as he did, but when she realized it was him, she adjusted herself in his fireman’s carry to continue firing without being hindered by having to run.

“Alyx fuckin’ ‘em up!” Dr. Coomer shouted, and Gordon couldn’t help laughing.

“Inside, go, go, go!” Barney yelled, waving the rest of the group into the entrance of the mines that they’d reached. 

Gordon didn’t slow down, even when he was in the darkness, but he did turn his flashlight on, remembering that Alyx had mentioned a fear of the dark once. Plus, y’know… seeing was nice. After running for what felt like another eternity, he heard for the others yelling at him to stop, so he turned to regroup with them. The gunshots and unfamiliar footfall had stopped a while ago, but he hadn’t been able to tell in his panicked state of mind. “Are we all here?” He asked as he put Alyx down.

“All accounted for,” Kleiner said, although he was supporting Barney heavily. “Barney may have ripped a stitch or two, though…”

“Shit, I totally forgot about that,” Gordon said. “Here, I’ve got him.” He sidled up to Barney’s other shoulder and supported him from there. “That good?”

“Y-Yeah,” Barney replied, “thanks, Gordon.”

“This is great and all, but could you point that damn flashlight somewhere else?!?” Bubby asked.

“Oh! Shit, sorry!” Gordon replied, shifting slightly so the flashlight was pointing into the mines rather than into Bubby’s eyes. “Okay… this is gonna be slow going, but you know the way, right, Barney?”

“Yeah, I’ve got us,” Barney replied. “We’ve still gotta be as fast as we can. Those guys are afraid of the mines, but if even one or two of them gets over it, we’re doomed.”

“Then let’s go!” Dr. Coomer said, charging deeper into the mines.

“Wrong way, doc!” Barney yelled after him.

* * *

“It’s okay, Kleiner, I’m sure she’ll be alright,” Alyx said as she patted the older doctor’s back. He was staring at the ground, glumly, and Gordon was honestly starting to feel a little bad for him. Apparently he felt awful about leaving Lamarr behind. When Barney had realized, he’d been a little more cheerful than a man with ripped stitches should have been, but he was hiding it well. Gordon could still tell, he could always tell when Barney was happy.

...why could he always tell?

“She’s a smart little shit,” Bubby said, gently bumping Kleiner’s shoulder with their own. “She can take care of herself.”

“I actually saw her before I joined you guys,” Gordon said. “I was making sure she knew to get somewhere safer, that’s why I took so long.”

“You almost got caught because you were talking to that _head humper_?!?” Barney asked, accidentally shouting in Gordon’s ear.

“Oh, thank you, Gordon,” Kleiner said at almost the same time, and he sounded completely relieved. “That means a lot to me.”

“No problem, Kleiner,” Gordon replied.

“You seriously risked dying for that thing?” Barney asked, and Gordon didn’t feel weird about knowing he was mad at him. It was pretty obvious.

“Look, just because you don’t like her doesn’t mean we should leave her to die,” Gordon argued.

“She’s just a mindless alien!” Barney said. “She would’ve killed us all if she had the chance!” Gordon went silent, and just focused on the mineshaft ahead of him. “C’mon, Gordon, don’t give me the silent treatment. You know I’m right.”

“Alyx, can you take Barney?” Gordon asked.

“Gordon…” Alyx said quietly.

“He’s dead.” Gordon practically jumped at Bubby’s tone. “He’s fucking dead, okay? We don’t have to freak out over alien shit anymore.”

“Here you guys go again!” Barney said. He shoved himself away from Gordon. “Who are you talking about?”

“Barney-” Kleiner tried, but Barney cut him off.

“Is this about the guy I look so much like? Is that… what was it, ‘Benrey’?” He asked.

“When did we ever say you looked like anyone?” Gordon asked.

“Before the first Combine raid,” Barney said. “You thought I was still out from the surgery, but I was awake. I was gonna say something, but then you started talking about me like I was the bad guy!”

“Barney, you need to calm down!” Alyx said, stepped towards him.

“I’m sick of secrets!” Barney shouted. “They’re gonna rip us apart!”

“Do we really need to talk about this in the middle of an abandoned mineshaft?” Gordon asked, trying to keep his voice even and failing.

“If it’s the only place I can get you to say anything, yeah!” Barney said.

“Okay!” Gordon yelled. “Fine! Benrey was-”

He was cut off by the sound of rocks shifting above them. Everyone’s eyes shot to the ceiling above them, and they stood frozen for a couple terrifying seconds. The sound came again, and Alyx took off like a shot down the mineshaft. The others followed behind her, and it wasn’t long before rocks had fallen exactly where they’d been standing.

“Barney!” Alyx shouted. “Which way to the base?”

“I think the right!” Barney yelled back.

“You think?!?” Bubby asked.

“I don’t know! This place is a maze!” Barney replied. “No, shit, Alyx, _right_!”

Gordon watched as Alyx took the left path, and his eyes widened when rocks fell over the opening, and Alyx screamed on the other side. “JOSHUA!” He shouted, not thinking about his words, acting almost entirely on impulse.

“I-I’m okay!” Alyx replied, seemingly not thrown off by Gordon’s fumbling over her name. “You guys keep going! I’ll find a way out of here!”

“Stay safe, kid!” Barney yelled, before he was going off to the left with Kleiner.

“We have to get her out!” Gordon shouted after them.

“We’ll get you out, dear, don’t worry!” Dr. Coomer said to Alyx.

“I’ll meet you there, I promise!” Alyx replied.

“Gordon, we have to-” Barney was cut off as rocks fell over the opening to the right.

“We’ve gotta go if we don’t wanna be trapped!” Bubby grabbed one of Gordon’s hands and one of Dr. Coomer’s and dragged them towards the path that was directly across from the one they’d come from. And it was a good thing too, because rocks fell over that opening too. Gordon just barely managed to avoid getting his legs crushed. He wasn’t sure if the HEV suit could protect him from that.

“H… Holy shit…” Gordon said as he stared up at the wall of rocks.

“Alyx?!?” Dr. Coomer shouted as he rushed to said wall. “Dear, can you hear me?!?” He waited for a moment before he started trying to move enough rocks to get through.

“We can’t waste time, Harold,” Bubby said, carefully taking him away by his shoulder. “She said she’d meet us, right? We have to believe her.”

“Barney said that… that the other paths were blocked off,” Gordon said.

The three of them stood in silence for a moment, before Dr. Coomer cleared his throat. “Shaft mining or shaft sinking is excavating a vertical or near-vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom,” he said as he began to go further down the mineshaft. Bubby and Gordon shared a glance before they followed him, Gordon shining his flashlight ahead of them all. “Shallow shafts, typically sunk for civil engineering projects, differ greatly in execution method from deep shafts, typically sunk for mining projects. When the top of the excavation is the ground surface, it is referred to as a shaft; when the top of the excavation is underground, it is called a winze or a sub-shaft.”

“Not that I don’t appreciate it, Dr. Coomer, but why exactly are we getting the Wikipedia lesson right now?” Gordon asked.

“I’m sorry, Gordon, but it helps me when I feel nervous,” Dr. Coomer replied.

“Don’t be sorry, man, it’s all good,” Gordon said. “I might, uh… do you guys mind if I make some noises too?”

“Ah, is it vocal stimming hours?” Dr. Coomer asked, his eyes brightening slightly.

“BBBBBBB!” Bubby replied, and Gordon returned the noise. Dr. Coomer continued to recite Wikipedia articles while Gordon and Bubby made noises at each other and to the dark walls around them. Gordon would, occasionally, have to put his flashlight away to let it recharge, which was always followed with a mutter of “that needs its own battery” from one of the three of them. It was slow going, but eventually they came to a split in the path, with both paths being blocked off.

“This is… less than ideal…” Dr. Coomer said, stopping his current ramble about miners unionizing in the early 1920s.

“I’ll say…” Gordon replied. “What do we do now?”

“Are either of them manmade?” Bubby asked.

“Huh?” Gordon asked.

“The rockslides, dumbass,” Bubby said. “The ones from back the way we came were obviously made by the Combine fucking around with the rocks. The resistance could’ve easily done the same. If one of these is manmade, and the other happened naturally, we’ll know which way to go.”

“Excellent thought process, my dear!” Dr. Coomer said. He approached the cave in on the right, while Gordon and Bubby looked at the one on the left. Bubby attempted to climb up some of the sturdier rocks, but Gordon pulled them back when their hand caught on one that crumbled down. Luckily, it didn’t bring the whole thing down, but it did leave them with just as few clues as before. “Gentlemen, I believe my side is the one that was manmade!”

“What makes you say that?” Gordon asked as he set Bubby down and patted their back. The huffed, but followed him over to where Dr. Coomer was standing.

“It appears that the rocks above it were destroyed in a much more rapid way than would occur naturally,” he said, pointing up at the ceiling. Gordon couldn’t see anything when he shined his light up there, but Bubby seemed to be in agreement.

“The one on the left didn’t look like that,” they said.

“Are you guys sure about this?” Gordon asked. “I mean… what if we’re wrong?”

“Then we’ll wander endlessly through the maze that is these mines until we starve and die!” Dr. Coomer said.

“Well… dying in a mine isn’t as _exciting_ as dying from a Combine soldier, but it’s more unique!” Gordon said, and he laughed nervously. “Lets collapse those rocks!”

A couple of disturbed rocks (and a lot of bruises because they didn’t plan their rock removal methods well) later, they were wandering through the mines again. Dr. Coomer started his Wikipedia recitation again after a few minutes, and Gordon went back to “BBB”ing every now and then, although Bubby stayed quiet this time. After what felt like an eternity, there was another voice further ahead of them.

“Don’t go!” The person said, and they ran in from a different mineshaft. Gordon raised his crowbar in his off hand while he shined his flashlight on the person, but he relaxed a second later when he realized it was Alyx.

“Alyx!!!” Dr. Coomer shouted, and he scooped her up in a massive bear hug when she ran to him.

“Thank god you guys are okay!” She said, hugging Dr. Coomer back.

“Thank god _you’re_ okay!” Gordon said, and he was pulled into the hug when he got too close. He laughed as Bubby was pulled in as well, the four of them hugging in the middle of a pitch black mineshaft.

Which… wait.

“Alyx, aren’t you afraid of the dark?” Gordon asked as Dr. Coomer put him down. He made sure to flick his flashlight on again.

“Y-Yeah,” Alyx said. “Don’t remind me.”

“You don’t have a flashlight, though…” Gordon said.

“Yeah! This all was hell!” Alyx replied. “Seriously, Gordon, don’t turn that thing off.”

“But you were… you sounded like you were talking to someone?” Gordon pushed.

“Gordon, many people experience hallucinations in times of high stress!” Dr. Coomer said. “Perhaps Alyx saw something that she believed would help or comfort her as her mind attempted to cope with the new stressor.”

“Is that a thing?” Gordon asked.

“Gordon, I have no earthly idea!” Dr. Coomer replied.

Gordon laughed and shook his head. “It doesn't matter,” he said, “I’m just glad you’re safe, kiddo.”

“Me too,” Alyx said. “We should keep moving. We’ve gotta find Barney and Kleiner as soon as possible.”

“Lets go!” Bubby said, and they charged off down the mineshaft that was opposite the one Alyx had just come from.

“Alyx, dear, stay by me,” Dr. Coomer said, taking her hand. “If Gordon’s flashlight were to fail, my cybernetics produce a mild glow!”

“Woah, neat!” Alyx said, and Gordon smiled as the two of them talked excitedly about Dr. Coomer’s cybernetics and their abilities while they made their way through the dark mine.

Just Barney and Kleiner now…

* * *

“How long do you think we’ve been down here?” Alyx asked. Gordon hummed noncommittally in response as he fiddled with his flashlight. It still had battery left, but not much, and he wasn’t sure how much longer they had to be trapped underground.

“Alyx, we’ve been in the mines for almost four hours!” Dr. Coomer said. He was still clutching her hand tightly.

“Four hours?!?” Gordon asked. “And we’re _still_ not seeing any daylight?!?”

“Dumbass!” Bubby yelled from where they were ahead of the rest of the group. “There won’t be any daylight to see! The sun set around an hour ago!”

“Oh,” Gordon replied quietly.

“Don’t worry, Gordon!” Dr. Coomer replied. “I’m sure that finding our way to Fort Nice won’t be hard once we’re above the surface again!”

“Is… does the name sound familiar to you guys?” Gordon asked.

“I think I’ve been there once,” Alyx said thoughtfully, “but I’m not sure.”

“It does sound strangely familiar, Gordon…” Dr. Coomer said.

“I’ve got a theory,” Bubby said, “especially with the guy running it having the codename ‘Cold’.”

“Nah, it can’t be…” Gordon said. “He’d pick something dumb like… I dunno, Ultimate Dragoon or something.”

“Hey! Beyblades are cool!” Alyx said.

“You know what a Beyblade is?” Dr. Coomer asked.

Alyx looked nervous, but she didn’t get the chance to reply before Bubby whooped in excitement. “We’re out!” They said as they scrambled up a wall of rocks to start pulling some out from the top. They weren’t going to have a repeat of the incident the Science Team had had when they were getting rid of their own cave in. The others rushed to help Bubby dismantle the rock wall, and there was an opening big enough for them to squeeze through after about half an hour. 

Gordon yelped in surprise when he skidded down the other side of the rocks on the outside of the mine, and he groaned when he hit his head against one of them. A hand drifted into his view, and he took it to help himself up. “Thanks…” He said.

“No problem, doc.” Gordon shook his head to try and clear it, and grinned when he realized it was Barney holding his hand. He grinned even wider when Barney launched himself at Gordon to hug him tightly, even despite the sewage he’d swam several miles through and the dirt of the mines. “Holy shit, Gordon, am I happy to see you!”

“I’m happy to see you too!” Gordon replied, hugging Barney back tightly. “I seriously thought I was going to die, man, you have no idea!”

“Look out!” Alyx yelped as she slid down behind Gordon, accidentally taking his legs out from under him and making Barney and Gordon fall against her in a heap. “Ow…” She hissed as Gordon and Barney scrambled to get off of her.

“Sorry!” Gordon said, finally standing again and scooping her out of the way of Bubby sliding down after her. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Alyx said. Gordon put her down, and his eye caught Barney’s for a second. His expression was… unreadable, but he didn’t seem pleased. Gordon was going to ask if he was alright when a blinding light turned on above them.

“Everyone okay down there?” A familiar voice shouted while Gordon shielded his eyes from the beam.

“All accounted for, Cold!” Barney called back after Dr. Coomer said, “Gordon, I’m blind!” after he landed on the ground as well. “You should turn the light off, though. Don’t wanna attract attention. Or burn their corneas.” He chuckled as the light turned off. Gordon blinked heavily as his eyes adjusted from doing to almost complete darkness to insanely bright lights in the span of only seconds. “Gordon, this is Cold!” Barney introduced the man that was walking towards them from what looked like a tall jeep and had a massive searchlight attached at the top. “Or, uh, as friends call him, Forzen.”

Gordon’s vision still hadn’t cleared, but he heard the satisfying, “oof!” Forzen made when Dr. Coomer’s fist made contact with his stomach. “Take that, you damnible bitch!” Bubby shouted.

“What the hell?!?” Barney asked as he tried to keep Dr. Coomer from landing another blow.

“It’s good, it’s cool,” Forzen said, and Gordon could tell he was doubled over in pain now. “I totally deserved that, actually.”

“What’d you even do?” Barney asked.

“Gordon, I feel murderous!” Dr. Coomer said.

“Curb that desire, bud,” Gordon said. “If Barney trusts him, I do.”

“Didn’t he cut your hand off?” Bubby asked.

“Oh, geez, I wouldn’t know, I’m not one of the ones who put the whole thing together,” Gordon snapped at them. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. Surprisingly, no one had said anything. “Sorry, sorry. Just… long few day.”

“Tell me about it,” Bubby griped. “And, for your information, _I’m_ not the one who actually got in contact with any of the bootboys.”

“Gordon, don’t… don’t you have both of your hands?” Alyx asked.

“I… yeah. I got it back,” Gordon replied.

“How… how on earth did you manage that, doc?” Barney asked.

“It’s a really long story that I’d rather not tell in the middle of the woods,” Gordon said. “Can we get going, or…?”

“Well, real quick, I wanna say that I didn’t do the hand thing,” Forzen said. “It took a whole team to keep you down, man, and I was the only one in Teams Nice.”

“You’re still an asshole,” Gordon said.

“Yeah… the dog thing wasn’t cool.” Forzen kicked at the ground slightly. “Tell me when your friends gets here so I can say sorry.”

“We… we will,” Gordon replied, and he waved away Dr. Coomer and Bubby’s looks. He was just too tired to explain what had happened to Tommy. “You didn’t have to join the military in the first place, man.”

“I _told_ you, dude, I just wanted to graduate!” Forzen snapped.

“What the fuck does that even mean?!?” Gordon snapped back.

“C’mon, guys, don’t fight..” Alyx said.

“It means that some people don’t have the money for college, and the United States military knows that, so they promise you money to go to college if you sign up when you’re still a dumb kid!” Forzen said. “So you do, but you realize that, oh, shit! You’re gonna die before you ever see that college money! And it’s probably a huge scam anyways, cuz nothing those guys do is ever good!” He sighed heavily. “Can you just get in the stupid jeep?”

“Yeah…” Gordon said. “Um… sorry.”

“It’s cool,” Forzen replied, and Gordon was surprised at how genuine he sounded. “It’s just some frustrating shit.”

“Sounds like it.” Gordon climbed into the jeep, and the rest of the group slowly followed him. “I… shit, I’m sorry to all of you. I’ve been having a shitty time, but it wasn’t fair for me to take it out on all of you.”

“You’re stressed, Gordie,” Barney said, “and it’s a million times worse than anything from before. You don’t gotta be calm all the time.” He reached forward from the backseat to squeeze Gordon’s shoulder.

“Lashing out is a perfectly normal response to stress, Gordon,” Dr. Coomer said. “And I’m sure of that fact, unlike Alyx’s hallucinations.”

“Um… should I be concerned?” Barney asked as Forzen started up the jeep.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Alyx said, waving him off. “They’re right, though, Gordon. Stuff’s hard right now, I’d probably lose my temper if I was in your shoes too.”

“The world’s fucked up,” Bubby said, “you can be a little fucked up too.”

“I think we’re _all_ a little fucked up,” Gordon said with a quiet laugh. “Okay… thanks, guys.”

“Don’t worry, dude, Fort Nice is, like… the closest thing to paradise you can get around here,” Forzen said. “You can chill for as long as you need to.”

“Thanks, man,” Gordon said. 

“Why don't you go ahead and take a nap, Gordie,” Barney suggested. “We’ll wake you up when we get there, okay?”

“Yeah… that sounds nice…” Gordon said. “I’m gonna try.”

“Ten bucks says he’ll be out in seconds,” Alyx said, and it was the last thing Gordon heard before the others in the car were promising Alyx that they’d give her ten dollars the next time they had them because she’d been right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Forzen's line about wanting to graduate is just a stupid joke, but it actually makes me really sad sometimes :(


End file.
